The Road Less Traveled
by notenoughpotter
Summary: My version of early S4. Of course there's angst, but that's part of what makes it fun.
1. Chapter 1

"_I don't want to be a vampire. I never wanted to be one." _The irony of those words played through Elena's mind as she curled her knees up to meet her chest. Leaning back against the headboard of her bed, she tried to get comfortable. She'd never realized how hard the wooden boards were before...of course, that could have just been her mind playing tricks on her. Trapped in the in-between world - not dead, but not really alive - she wasn't a vampire.

Yet.

This wasn't what was supposed to have happened. When she inhaled that last mouthful of water, fully aware she'd been underwater far too long, Alaric would die and everyone she cared about would be safe. Her life in exchange for the lives of the people she loved - it was a fair trade, even if she knew they wouldn't think so.

And she'd done it without a second's hesitation. One quick breath after Stefan swam away with Matt and it was over. No one was there to stop her...even though she half-expected a very certain someone to arrive just in time.

He always did.

They _always _survived.

Well, at least after she made sure that whatever the creature Alaric had become was gone..._he _would survive. His name was the last word that crossed her lips as the world faded into blackness.

It didn't hurt. Dying really wasn't much different from falling asleep. One minute, she was looking into the blurry haze of her underwater grave and the next everything was simply gone.

It all went just as she expected except...

Elena just hadn't planned to wake back up. When her eyes opened and she found herself lying prone on the cold metal table in the hospital morgue, she knew something had gone badly wrong. Had Stefan come back before she died? Should she expect Alaric to come crashing through the doors in any moment?

Stefan was there - just out of reach - he kept his eyes turned away from her...and that answered her question before the words left her mouth. He couldn't face what she'd become.

Still gasping for the unexpected breath filling her lungs, her eyes swept the room and she froze under the intensity of _his _expression. The vividly blue eyes didn't blink. They swept over her with a mixture of sadness and anger that she'd never experienced before.

"Elena, I'm..." Until Meredith spoke, she hadn't even noticed the doctor standing in the doorway next to Damon. One look at her face, and Elena realized what had happened.

"Last night." Elena startled at the sound of her own voice. Rough and gravelly, drowning hadn't done her throat any favors, the vampire blood must have been too busy saving her life to heal the sandpaper-raw throat. "I didn't just pass out because I'd hit my head. Did I?"

"You were dying when Jeremy brought you in." Meredith's eyes swam with tears as her face mimicked Stefan's - only Damon would look at Elena now. "You...may have needed some help."

Damon glared at Meredith with enough malice to drop most people in their tracks. "We need to get you out of here." He came to stand at Elena's side as the shock began to sink in. He looked over Elena's shoulder at Stefan. "I'll stay and take care of the coroner. Alaric may have told the council about us, but they don't need to know about her." His eyes narrowed. "Unless you think Matt needs you to help him first."

For the first time since she'd awakened, Stefan's eyes looked somewhere other than the tile floor. "I'll take her to our house. She'll be safe there - at least for a while." He reached for her hand as Elena whisked it out of his grasp.

She shook her head as she looked between the brothers. She knew something they clearly didn't understand. "No. I want to go home." Trying not to laugh at how childlike she sounded to even her own ears, she just wanted to be in her bed with her teddy bear and her posters on the wall. If she had to die twice - she wanted to be in her own room.

"Elena, think about it." Stefan wrapped his arm around her waist as he pulled her to her feet. She shivered as the cold, wet clothes stuck to her skin. How long had she been here after all?

"I am." She defiantly met his guilt-ridden eyes. "I'm not going to transition."

That was three hours ago...or four. Tired of counting down her last minutes, she'd thrown her clock across the room. Petrova fire in action. It now lay in a pile of shattered pieces beneath her window seat. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she was desperate to know what time it was. Surely it couldn't last much longer. Caroline's dad hadn't ... lasted more than a few hours after he decided not to turn.

Her hands were shaking. She couldn't remember when she'd last felt so dizzy. The overwhelming smell of paint drifted into the room and made her stomach churn. Jeremy was following her lead - doing anything to keep himself busy. From the sounds of the roller against the wall, he was finishing the job they'd started after Alaric died.

They needed to lock the door to that room permanently and seal it off from the rest of the house. It was bad luck. At least finishing the painting gave Jeremy something to do now, though. She didn't dare let him stay in the room with her. They'd said their goodbyes. She was strong, but what if she wasn't strong enough?

She would _not _hurt her brother. A tear snaked down her cheek. She knew that by making this choice, she'd be hurting him far worse than a pair of fangs ever could.

Nervously picking at a string on the blanket, she studied the hole between her fingers. What had started out as a tiny tear was now almost large enough to push her fist through. She wasn't afraid last night in the truck, but now she was.

Footsteps echoed in the hall. She fought back tears as she thought back to Jeremy's face when she'd arrived home - hopeful...but then the reality hit him. "Elena." That was all he said before they'd both started crying. When her parents died, she'd promised she'd always be there for him. She said she'd take care of him, and now she breaking her promise. She was going to leave him alone.

She needed to explain. Jeremy had to understand why she couldn't turn. He'd met Katherine - surely he'd realize...

She couldn't be a vampire.

She refused to be _her._

"Jer -" As soon as one foot touched the floor, the room spun around her. Elena had watched the sun rise and now the vivid golden light of mid-morning peeked around her tightly closed blinds. A few hours ago, she just wanted it to be over.

Now, she was desperate for a few more minutes with her brother. Blindly propelling herself toward the door, she overestimated the strength she had left. As the floor pitched beneath her, her knees buckled and she dropped to the meet the hardwood floor.

But her knees never hit the ground. Strong arms wrapped around her as her cheek brushed against the familiar black leather jacket.

Damon. Of course. Her lips curled into a hint of a smile. He never let her fall.

Author's note: I'll bet I was the last author you expected to see an update from today. I'm between deadlines and needed something fun to clear my head between stories. I can't promise quick updates, and I'm sorry about that. I will try to get my first "real" chapter up before the week is over, though. Then it's back to my as-yet-unwritten (but still due by October) third manuscript.

Less than a month before my first novel is in print. :-)

Thanks to all of y'all who've read my stories along the way. Hope you enjoy this little trip through early season 4 that I've written to help pass the time.


	2. Chapter 2

Um, wow. Totally didn't expect to go this long without an update. It sounds pretty lame, but life just got really complicated really fast. Lost two family members in a very short period of time – one by his own choosing. I don't want to go too somber on y'all, but…if you're ever facing a time when you think ending your life is the only answer – please, talk to someone first. Even if you don't have a friend or family member to confide in, there are many places to turn before you make the one decision you can never take back. (Stepping off my soapbox.)

Yep, my first novel came out in August. My second is due to release in December, and I was just told that the manuscript I turned in to my editor yesterday will be coming out in February of 2013. So, as you can see, my fanfic time is at a premium.

I'm going to try to stay ahead of TVD's actual season four, but I make no guarantees.

Warnings: violence, character death, adult content, Bonnie, language,

I do not own TVD (or the series would be going a total different direction), only this plot is mine.

* * *

Elena closed her eyes and buried her head into Damon's chest as she gripped his jacket as if her life depended on it. Vertigo like she'd never experienced before had struck her hard; and even being held tightly in Damon's arms, she felt as if she were in a remake of _Titanic._ She concentrated on the feeling of the strong muscles pulling her into his chest.

Until they were gone.

Far too quickly, she was settled on her own bed, and Damon was pulling the sheet around her. Elena hadn't even realized she was shivering. Cautiously, she cracked one eye open.

Not a good idea.

She fisted the mattress and bit down on the inside of her lip. Dying was supposed to be easy.

Inhale.

Run out of air.

Go to sleep.

Of course, that was before she'd known about Meredith's involvement in her rapid recovery overnight. She should have guessed by now. No one has a nose bleed from just being tired….well, no one other than Bonnie.

"Where's my brother?" Damon's voice came from farther away than she expected. He must have been sitting in the window seat. That was unexpected. She shook her head. No it wasn't. Less than…

Hell,_ what time was it anyway?_

Elena pulled her legs to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. At some time over the last day, she'd been on the phone with Damon and told him his brother got the goodbye. And he was still here…

"Stefan bail on you?" Damon repeated himself.

The movement in the room eased from rowboat in a hurricane to cruise ship in a storm. Elena cracked her eyes and squinted in Damon's direction, testing her stomach's reaction. "I asked him to leave."

* * *

She asked him to leave. Damon bit back his ironic laughter. Of course she did. She'd never want her epic love to have to feel her pain.

To have to watch her die.

To sit next to her and watch the life fade from her eyes.

That's what he was here for…because he was a glutton for punishment. And because he couldn't face the thought of her dying alone. She'd done that once already.

"What, no snarky comment?" Elena's eyes were fully open now. Those chocolate-brown orbs that had him so deeply under her spell looked back at him. Her voice may have sounded like she was teasing, but she couldn't fool him. He knew her too well.

She was in pain.

A lot of it.

Her knuckles were as white as the sheet beneath her as she gripped it to steel herself against the pain of dying. It hurt – even more the second time. He remembered. He'd been minutes away from death when Stefan arrived and sentenced him to this life.

He'd hated his brother for 150 years, blaming Stefan for an eternity spent in darkness. But if he hadn't turned all those years ago, he never would have met _his _light – even if she didn't choose him. It was worth it for those moments she smiled at him. The times he'd been able to make her laugh when events around her seemed at their most bleak. That one night in a run-down motel on the outskirts of Denver. She'd attacked him with a hunger and passion he'd always known she possessed. For that one instant, she'd been his and no one else's. And now he was here to watch her die.

"Damon?" She'd closed her eyes again, but she was blindly holding her hand out to him.

Before she could finish her next breath, he was next to her on the bed. She rolled onto her side and turned to face him. As he wiped the sweat from her forehead, he was struck by the irony of the situation. Less than a year ago, she held his head against her chest as they waited for him to die.

It was only at the last second that he'd realized he'd spent all of his life waiting to meet her. If he'd died that night in the quarry, he would have never met her. He couldn't imagine what life would have been like without her in it.

She was about to make the choice he'd tried to make over 100 years ago.

He couldn't let her do it.

Her fingers tightened on his hand, but he wasn't sure if she were reacting to fear, pain, or something else.

"I'm still here." Taking a risk, he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

She gave a weak laugh. "You always are." She released his hand and placed her palm on his chest.

"Not always." He couldn't hide the anger in his voice. If he'd been there when the truck crashed through the side of Wickery Bridge, the world might have one fewer football player, but Elena would be alive right now – _really _alive.

Elena shook her head and frowned, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "Don't be mad at him."

"He's a vampire. He could have saved you both."

"He did what I asked, Damon."

Damon couldn't look into her eyes. He didn't want her to see the anger flaring in his. He might have forgiven his brother for making him what he was today, but he would never forgive Stefan for the part he played in Elena's death. And then he left her alone….again….just like she asked.

"Damon." Using strength he didn't know she still possessed, she pushed herself to a sitting position and knelt on the bed next to him. Any other time, his attention would be divided between the look in her eyes and the way she looked in her camisole, but not today. She placed her palm against his cheek and turned his face toward hers. "Stefan did what I asked. It was the only way."

Her words hung between them.

"You mean you…." The rest of the sentence was too terrible. He didn't dare voice it.

Elena stroked his cheek just like she did when she most earnestly needed his attention. "I knew what I was doing. It was the only way to save the rest of you. If I died, then whatever Ric had become couldn't hurt the rest of you." She gave a brave smile. "My life in exchange for all of yours. It was a fair trade." Her eyes widened and gazed tenderly at him. "I should never have survived the first wreck."

Damon couldn't believe what she was saying. She died on purpose. She'd taken advantage of the moment Stefan saved Matt to save the rest of them. Of course she did.

Because she was _Elena._

_Damn it, _he was not going to let her die for him.

The methodical rolling continued in the room next door. Jeremy should never get a job as a professional painter. The kid took forever. Unless he was using the task as an excuse to stay next to Elena. Jeremy could hear every word of their conversation. Now he knew why his sister died.

"So you're going to leave your brother alone?" Damon hit Elena where she was the most vulnerable. He knew that Jeremy would come in here at the slightest hint that she wanted to transition, offering his own arm to save his sister's undead life. But Damon had been down that road before. He refused to make the same mistake twice. He didn't want her to die, but he would not make the decision for her.

"Jeremy won't be alone."

"Really?" Damon allowed the sarcasm to drip from his words. "Because it really seems like he will be. Your parents. Jenna. Uncle John. Ric." He ticked the names off one by one as he held up corresponding fingers. "And now you." Damon shook his head. "He's not going to have anyone left."

"He still has Bonnie."

Damon shook his head. "Pretty sure she's pretty annoyed at him about the whole ghost thing."

"You and Stefan can watch out for him." Elena was begging now. Her eyes shone brightly as she fought back the tears that threatened to flow.

"It's not the same." Damon turned at the new voice in the room. He'd been right. Jeremy had been listening. "Elena." Jeremy took a hesitant step into Elena's bedroom, careful to keep most of the room between himself and his sister. "You're the only family I have left."

"Jeremy, I can't." Tears began to fall in earnest down her cheeks and plopped like rain on the bed sheet. Without realizing what she was doing, she grabbed hold of Damon's arm for support. "I'm not alive anymore."

"But you are." He advanced toward the bed and Damon gave a warning glare. He didn't want Elena to make this decision because she was out of control – and if she hurt her brother, she'd never forgive herself. Now Jeremy was begging. "I'm looking at you right now. You're breathing. You're talking to me. You're here. You're alive." His brown eyes pleaded with hers. Damon wished he could leave them to have this exchange in private, but he felt the tension in Elena's grip. She was hungry. She was starving. Right now, she was burning through the last strength she possessed to keep herself from launching herself at her brother this very instant.

"I don't want to live like this."

"You're being selfish."

If any passers by happened along the street below, they'd be sure to wonder what was causing the blow up at the Gilbert house. Damon was doubtful the room had ever witnessed such an epic battle of wills. Stubbornness clearly ran in the Gilbert family.

"I can't be like _her_." Elena shook her head and leaned back onto the pillow.

Damon studied the grief in her face. Now he understood. It wasn't just that she didn't want the life of a vampire. She didn't want Katherine's life. "You won't be." His eyes bored into hers. "I promise you. You will _never _be like Katherine."

"Elena, please." Gone was the strong young man who'd cut off a hybrid's head. In his place stood a scared younger brother – afraid that the last surviving member of his family was about to leave him alone.

Elena stared at Jeremy, and then she turned to Damon. "You promise?"

"You won't turn into Katherine."

"And you won't let me hurt Jeremy? I won't feed on him."

"Definitely not." Damon snapped into action. "Jeremy. Downstairs. In the refrigerator." He'd spent enough time unexpectedly at this house over the past weeks and months that he'd learned to keep a stash for emergencies in the refrigerator.

Jeremy bolted out of the room and down the stairwell. He landed on the floor below with a thud. Soon, Damon could hear the clinking of bottles as Jeremy pawed through the items in the refrigerator.

"Damon?" Jeremy called up from below. "There's nothing in here."

"Yes they are. Behind the ketchup. Next to Alaric's beer." _Shit!_ Ric's alter-ego must have rid the house of all the blood bags. "Jeremy! Go to Caroline's house….she should have some." Before Damon finished his sentence, the kitchen door crashed shut. Damon suspected that if Jeremy couldn't find a blood bag, he'd soon be back with a cup filled with his own blood. Elena couldn't refuse if she wasn't the one who took the blood from her brother.

Elena's weight was heavy against his side. He glanced down, and her eyes were closed again. Her skin was even more ashen than before. How long had it been since she'd drowned? He turned to the window, surprised to see the sun setting.

"Elena?" He shook her, but she didn't respond.

No.

Not since she'd agreed to turn. They'd come this far. She didn't get to leave him now.

"Elena!" He shook her again, harder. Yes, she'd just had a head injury, but that would go away as soon as she fed. If she died this time, he wouldn't be able to bring her back. "Wake up! Jeremy will be right back."

"Tired." Elena tried to force one eye open, but it was too late. They'd waited too long. She needed blood and she needed it now.

"No. No. No. No. You do not get to do this to me. You are not going to leave me." He'd give his life for hers, and now he was helpless. "Damn it, Elena. Stay with me. Don't leave Jeremy. He's on his way back." He slammed his hand down on the nightstand, shattering her tea cup, and slicing his hand open.

Elena's eyes opened a crack.

Mikael drank vampire blood. The predator who fed on other predators – he'd found another solution. Would it work?

He knelt next to her on the bed and tore into his own wrist, making sure the blood flowed steadily. "Elena. Open."

Elena wrinkled her nose, but she turned in his direction, her mouth open like a baby bird. She gagged as the first drop hit her tongue and again as the second and third poured into her mouth, but the longer his blood flowed, the more the color came into her cheeks. Her lips closed around his wrist, and she began to feed on her own – no longer waiting for the blood to pour from his wound.

Blue eyes met brown. For the moment, they were the only two non-people in the world. She swallowed again, and a hint of a smile played at the corner of her lips. The same look came into her eyes that he remembered from the night at the hotel. She was his.

"What the hell are you doing?" Stefan shot to the side of the bed.

Damon turned to Stefan and gave a cocky grin. "She's making her choice."

* * *

Sorry it isn't longer. At this point, I figured y'all would just be happy to have an update at all.

I really do read every one of my reviews, and I try to answer each of them. Please, I'd love to know what you think of this chapter (and if you want me to continue with the story).

Thanks a million for sticking with me even when the updates are few and far between!

-NEP


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note:

Once again, I'm sorry about the delay in updating. I've turned in a manuscript and finished the final round of edits on my upcoming book that's releasing in December since I last posted here. So, my writing time's at a premium.

Also, after episode 402, I was so pleased with the direction of the story that I honestly couldn't figure out a way to improve upon it without really copying the story arc.

But after this week, that's changed….

I will admit that I'm borrowing one part of the storyline. Y'all will know it when you see it, but other than that (and some similarities to Stefan's behavior), this plot line is my own.

Hope y'all enjoy it.

Warnings: Mature, violence, blood, Stefan, adult content, language, Bonnie, character death

* * *

Warm.

Metallic.

Thick.

_Sweet?_

Damon's blood flowed into Elena's mouth and filled her senses. She'd consumed his blood before, but this was the first time she'd done so by her own choosing. And it was a choice. She refused to leave Jeremy alone – he'd lost enough over the last year. She couldn't leave Stefan alone with his guilt….and the one glimpse she caught of him as he'd rushed into the room told her that if she died, he'd lose all traces of the humanity he clung to so desperately – because he'd blame himself. He'd already started. His morose sighing and pacing around her bedroom was the reason she'd made him leave in the first place.

But even now, she knew she wasn't being totally honest with herself. There was another reason she was making this choice. Elena turned her eyes to the one currently cradling her in his arm, since the other wrist was currently held to her lips.

She didn't want to be a vampire.

She never wanted that life.

She felt a tear trickling down her cheek.

"Elena don't…" Stefan lunged for her, tearing Damon's arms away from her.

And she swallowed.

* * *

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Stefan's voice carried up the stairs to Elena in her room. She couldn't tell if they were actually screaming or not. She'd remembered the vampire lessons Stefan gave her back on the day when she'd first discovered what he and Damon were.

Everything is heightened. Every touch. Every smell. Every desire. Every sound.

She was amazed how quickly she'd learned that on her own. Even now the dripping of the shower faucet boomed in her ears, keeping time with her heartbeat pounding in her chest. Funny, she'd half-expected to sense her heart stopping….but she guessed that was leftover from her _Twilight _phase.

"I was keeping her alive!" Damon's voice echoed through the room. She didn't have to guess this time. He really was shouting. "Something you failed to do."

"She didn't want this!"

"I let her choose." Elena could envision how his blue eyes flashed with anger as he spoke. "Do you think I'd force her to turn? Put my bleeding arm to her lips, knowing she couldn't resist?" The unspoken reminder hung heavy in the air below.

"Stefan, Damon waited for her to agree." Jeremy was back? How had she missed hearing the door open? It must have been right after she swallowed – probably around the time she'd ended up in the shower after gagging and spitting the blood back out onto the sheets and bedspread. She still didn't understand how one mouthful of blood could cover so much surface area.

She turned on the hairdryer to mask the argument below.

It didn't help.

"Jeremy, stay out of this." Damon's voice was even, but she could sense the edge of anger and frustration building. "You need to go. Now. Why don't you go make sure Elena's invited into the house."

"But keep your distance – just in case." Stefan warned. Did he really know her at all? Elena knew she'd never hurt her brother, even now.

Jeremy took their advice. In no time at all, he'd mounted the stairs and made his way to the bathroom doorway. "Elena?" His eyes looked at her warily while his thumb ran over the ring on his finger. He was afraid of her.

An animalistic growl sounded below – accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.

"What?" Elena tossed the hairdryer down and lunged for the doorway.

"You don't want to go down there."

It had come to this. She'd expected it. Tension had been building between the brothers for days….weeks really. Ever since she and Damon had gone to pick up Jeremy, Damon and Stefan had hardly been in the same room together. And they'd both pressed her to make a choice.

Her breathing sped as she remembered the sound of Damon's voice on the phone.

Grief and sadness mixed with longing…and a hint of finality.

What had she done? The doorframe cracked beneath her grip.

"Um, guys?" Jeremy had backed to the edge of the landing. His attention flicking between the fight downstairs and Elena, his panic was evident. "A little help up here?"

But it was too late. The panic descended on her like a waterproof tarp, choking her. She couldn't breathe. Jeremy's heartbeat pounded in her ears. She felt…

Hungry.

Her senses fixed on the source of food in the house. He was standing mere feet in front of her. It would be over in an instant.

And that terrified her. Staying on her hands and knees, she forced herself back – skittering away from Jeremy and seeking refuge in the back corner of the bathroom. Her tears fell like rain.

"Stefan! Damon!" Jeremy's words pierced the melee below. The room grew dark as it became even harder to breathe. Stars exploded like fireworks in her field of vision. Elena hunkered deeper into the corner and covered her eyes with her hands in a vain attempt to make the flashes of color go away. "Seriously, guys."

"Damn it." Damon's voice sounded as if it were coming from a tunnel far away as Stefan's hands gripped her face. "Get her outside." Stefan pulled her to her feet and whisked her out of the room.

"What's wrong? I thought... Is she okay?" Jeremy's fear was the only thing that cut through the fog and reached Elena's consciousness.

"She hasn't been invited in." Damon answered tersely. Where was he? Shouldn't his hands be guiding her? Her teeth jostled against each other as she stumbled down the stairs. Her lungs threatened to explode. Just when she thought she couldn't endure it any longer, the front door opened and the pressure bearing down on her was released.

Gratefully gulping down air, Elena dropped to her knees on the front porch. The door swung in on itself, and she was stunned at the sight in front of her. Chairs and tables stood their sides. Pillows – and stuffing – were strewn throughout the living room. Shattered glass from…something… sparkled in the fading sunlight.

Just as she felt some relief from being able to breathe again, she sensed something else was wrong. The sunlight. Elena hissed beneath the rays of the setting sun. Pain like someone poured boiling water seared her skin.

"Aaah! Aaahh!" Tears welled in her eyes as she sought out a place to retreat.

"Stefan. Are you even thinking? Hello! Daylight!" Damon lashed out. "You won the bet, so get her out of here."

"Damon?" Elena was confused. Why was Stefan taking her anywhere? "But Damon….ahhh!" Her hand looked as if she'd spent the day at the beach without any sunscreen.

"Go." Damon threw his keys to Stefan. "I'll clean up here."

Dazed and confused, Elena allowed herself to be led down the steps into the waiting car where she finally felt some degree of relief. "Here you go." Something soft and warm covered her shoulders. Taking a deep breath, she sighed in relief as the familiar jacket covered her sensitive skin.

Why did she have to go anywhere? "Where are we going?" Her own voice sounded unfamiliar.

"To the boardinghouse. You'll be safe there until we're sure we've taken care of everything." Stefan started the car and pulled away from the curb.

Elena glanced out the window. Overwhelmed by the roller coaster of sensations, a tear fell from her eye as she said goodbye to the life she knew. Stefan took hold of her hand and his thumb rubbed over her knuckles. _Too hard. _Every nerve seemed to be standing on end as she shied away from his touch.

* * *

"What did you mean?" Jeremy turned a throw pillow over in his hand, obviously trying to decide if it was salvageable or not. He ran his fingers through his hair before he turned in the direction of the kitchen. One more for the trash bin.

"What are you talking about?" Damon could have used his vampire speed to clean the powdered glass in the middle of the room, but he simply didn't want to. Being around Elena this afternoon was painful enough. No reason to hurry home where Stefan was likely enjoying some of Elena's new _skills. _Maybe he'd stay and have a few drinks with Jeremy. He knew where Alaric liked to hide the best bourbon. A stab of pain shot through his gut. He lost the girl who was never quite his and his best friend in one night. Standing up, Damon looked at Jeremy. He'd lost his sister and his guardian in a single night as well.

Definitely a night to corrupt a teenager. Damon laughed to himself. Who was he kidding? This was Mystic Falls. The high schoolers were corrupted long before he arrived.

"You said Stefan won the bet. Then you sent him home with Elena." Jeremy rested his hands on the back of the couch and looked at Damon with mounting suspicion. "What bet?"

"Maybe bet's not exactly the right word." Damon leaned on the tip of the broom handle. "More like a gentleman's agreement."

Jeremy gave a brief nod and walked into the kitchen. He opened the cabinet and pushed aside the oatmeal and the box of grits. He knew where Alaric's stash was too. He poured a glass of bourbon and handed it to Damon. "I think I need the whole story."

Damon shook his head. Jeremy Gilbert was no longer a little kid. His lips twisted into a smirk. Of course, he'd probably earned the title of adult the night he chopped off a hybrid's head. "Stefan and I had an agreement."

"About my sister." Jeremy prompted.

Damon nodded and downed the amber liquid in one gulp. He held out his glass and Jeremy filled it to the brim. "If we'd kept up fighting over her." Damon took a drink and swallowed with difficulty. "We'd have been repeating history."

"Like the way y'all fought over Katherine." Jeremy drank his bourbon like a champion. "But my sister's not like Katherine."

Damon suppressed a smile. Elena was much more like Katherine than any of them cared to admit. "Still. We couldn't keep fighting over her. So we had an agreement."

Footsteps sounded on the front porch and the doorbell rang. Damon put his drink on the end table and approached the door with caution. Two of Sheriff Forbes' deputies peered up at the peephole. Putting on his best fake grin, Damon opened the door. "Hello gentlemen."

"Is Elena here?" The older officer cocked his head to the side as he stared into the living room. Damon was very much aware that it still looked as if a herd of cattle had stampeded through the room.

"No, Philip. Can I help you with something?" Jeremy stepped forward and addressed the men.

"This is kind of an adult matter." The younger officer's eyes flicked between Damon and Jeremy.

"Do you know how we can reach her?" Philip asked.

Damon smirked. "She's a bit occupied at the moment. She and my brother went out of town for the weekend. I'm baby sitting."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and advanced in the officers' direction. "She's ten months older than I am." Jeremy pressed on. "If you can tell her, then you can tell me."

"Son, I'm afraid we have some bad news about your guardian. If you have a way to reach your sister, then we're going to need you to do it. Have her give us a call down at the station."

"Sure." Jeremy nodded. "I'll see if I can call her." He turned away from the door and walked back into the dining room. From the defeated posture of Jeremy's shoulders, Damon knew he was already aware of why the officers had arrived on the doorstep.

"Sorry to bother you." The two men tipped their hats.

Damon's phone buzzed in his pocket. He took a breath before looking down at the message. _You need to come home. Now. _Of course he did. Jeremy heard his phone buzz too. He met the anxious brown eyes without blinking. "Everything's going to be fine. Stefan just needs me to come home."

"Is it Elena?"

Damon nodded. There wasn't any reason to lie to Jeremy. The boy had earned the right to some honesty. "Probably."

"Then go. I'll be fine." Jeremy put his hands in his pockets. The young man who looked so old moments before now suddenly appeared his age. Neither of the Gilberts should have been going through this. He silently cursed his brother for staying in Mystic Falls all those months ago. If he'd left the night he'd rescued Elena from the first wreck, none of this would have happened. "But Damon." Damon paused on his way out the door. "Take care of my sister."

"I always do." Damon nodded and stepped out of the house.

* * *

"She's upstairs." Stefan's voice carried through the hallway and mixed with the other sounds Elena once found familiar but now threatened to overwhelm her. The clock ticking. The hum of the air conditioner. A drip in the sink down the hall. Someone pacing on the front porch.

"In your room?" Damon. Elena sighed in relief. When she'd seen his torn shirt and the anger in his eyes as he spoke with Stefan, she'd half-expected never to see him again. And she knew she'd never survive that.

"It's the darkest." Stefan answered.

"Of course it is." Damon spoke each word as if it were a knife. Still, he didn't hesitate. After Stefan confirmed where Elena was within the cavernous house, Elena heard the first of Damon's footsteps coming in her direction.

Funny. She never really thought she'd be able to identify someone just by listening as his steps crossed the hardwood. But she knew the confident, decisive steps belonged to Damon – just as the more hesitant steps echoing behind his belonged to Stefan.

Once Stefan had tucked her in his bed as if she were a recalcitrant child, he'd told her to stay there…and then he left. She'd done as she'd been told, but the hours had passed slowly. She'd listened as the clock chimed two hours since she'd arrived at the boardinghouse. For the last few minutes, she'd wondered if she were ever going to be released from her rather comfortable prison.

"How is she?"

"Um, see for yourself." Stefan hesitated outside the doorway.

The tears began falling again as Damon came into the room. She'd thought she'd lost him. He was angry with Stefan. But that wouldn't mean he'd leave her. She didn't know why she'd been so afraid. Damon promised. He's said he'd never leave her.

Damon settled on the bed and scooted next to her. He cupped her cheek in his hand, and his thumb drifted softly over her skin. It was soothing. Gradually, she caught her breath and looked into his fathomless blue eyes. "You're going to be okay. Just takes a little getting used to."

Elena sniffed and swallowed.

Damon turned back to the doorway to look back at Stefan. "She seem a little…"

"Confused?" Stefan nodded. "I was waiting for you to get here. I didn't want to leave her alone."

Damon snorted with laughter. "Lucky I was still around to clean up your mess earlier. You can thank me for compelling the hospital staff later." Somehow Elena didn't think he was talking about the state of her living room. "What in hell were you thinking? Taking her to the hospital?"

"She was dead. That's what you do." Stefan glowered at Damon. "I didn't know about your blood."

_Blood._

Just the mere mention of the word pulled Elena's focus from the brothers' conversation.

Her stomach rumbled. She'd never been so hungry in her life. Her mouth watered as she thought about it…and found her self just as equally revolted by the thought of someone's blood coursing in to her mouth.

"….really?" Damon shot to his feet and Elena focused on the conversation.

"It's what she would want." Stefan was walking from the room. What had she missed? Elena sat up in alarm.

"Three hours ago you were telling me she _wanted _to _die_. What makes you so sure she wants to follow your bunny diet now? What if _Air Bud _was her favorite movie?" Damon stroked her hair, and she relaxed.

"We have to try. If she never tastes human blood, then…"

"It's not going to work, Stefan."

"Stay here with her while I go get her what she needs." Stefan pointed to Elena as she still sat tucked beneath the blankets. "Something's not right..."

"You mean what you want her to have." The anger seething beneath the surface of Damon's words made Elena wonder if Stefan's room was about to be subjected to the same treatment as her living room had received earlier.

Stefan's muscles tensed as he glared back at Damon. "Then let's ask her." He approached her slowly. Elena wasn't certain if he was afraid he'd scare her or if he was scared _of _her. Damon stood and offered his spot on the edge of the bed. Stefan didn't hesitate to fill Damon's place. "Elena, I think you'll feel…more yourself if you eat something."

Food. Elena couldn't remember the last time she'd had something to eat. Maybe Stefan was right. She'd feel better if she ate something. When she was sick, her mother always made homemade chicken noodle soup. Maybe he could find her and tell her that Elena was sick. "My mom can make some soup."

"Your mom's…" Stefan paused and looked at Damon.

"Your parents aren't here right now, Elena." Damon reached down and took hold of Stefan's arm, dragging him from the room. "She doesn't even remember where her parents are. How can you expect her to make a decision like this?"

They shouldn't have bothered whispering their argument. Elena could hear them just as well as if she'd been standing in the room next to them.

"Then I'll decide." Stefan's voice took on a hard edge. "She chose _me_, Brother. Don't forget." Stefan paused for a moment. "We're doing this my way."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Ohhhh – two updates in two days. It must be NaNoWriMo or something. I always end up writing fanfic when I'm facing writer's block. My loss, y'all's gain.

Glad y'all seemed pleased with the last chapter. I know it's still kind of aligned with the progression of the show, but I had to bridge where I left off to get where I'm heading. You'll likely find this chapter a little repetitive too, but I PROMISE that after this chapter I take a major turn away from the show (or at least I hope I do). I probably won't have a third chapter go up before Thursday, so depending on how close my way of thinking is to the writers' (insert laughter here), I might be paralleling the show again in the future.

Warnings: Mature – adult content, language, Stefan, violence, sensitive subject matter, Bonnie, character death, VOMIT, VOMIT, THERE IS LOTS OF VOMIT. I had to "borrow" that element of the plot because it ties in with something else I'm writing.

* * *

"Thanks, Liz. Yeah, I think we're going to need at least two…maybe three days." The retching coming from down the hall finally stopped and the toilet flushed. "So if you could conveniently lose some paperwork, the ME's report, something like that."

"_I'll take care of it." _Damon could picture the worried look on Liz's face. Not only was she having to cover up the death of the town's most recent history teacher, three of Klaus' hybrids had been found dead in the woods, and now she learned that the town had one more vampire on its hands. _"Do y'all need any help?"_

"Um. Probably not the best idea to have visitors right now." The sink turned on full blast. Damon heard Stefan's footsteps going down the hallway, away from his bedroom. He probably needed fresh sheets.

Saying Elena's first attempt at feeding with the vampire blood hadn't gone well was an understatement. Damon had been good. Once Stefan returned with a _mug _of fox or squirrel or something, Damon slid out from beneath her arm resting across his chest and retreated from the room. Elena was sleeping anyway. She didn't even know he'd with her.

Stefan woke her up, and at least she wasn't quite as disoriented as she'd been before she'd fallen asleep with her head in Damon's lap. She knew who she was and why she was at their house. She hadn't asked for her mother again, but she still wasn't quite herself – or like any other new vampire he'd met.

But she'd only swallowed a single mouthful of his blood at her house, and even that only stayed down for twenty seconds at the most. Enough to complete the transition, but far less than she required.

And that's where the mug of blood a la Stefan came in.

"Here you go." Stefan's bed squeaked as he settled on the mattress next to Elena. Elena had groaned in response. "It's not that bad. You'll get used to it." Stefan's encouragement was hard to ignore, even with the distance between the brothers' bedrooms.

"I don't…"

"Elena, you need to eat something."

Elena didn't answer, but Damon heard her swallow once before she gagged.

"You're doing good. Just try another sip."

"Stefan…"

"Two more swallows." _God!_ Could Stefan treat her more like she was an infant? But Elena did as she was told. She gulped down two more mouthfuls….before her gag reflex kicked in again.

Obviously caught by surprise again, Damon suspected from Stefan's reaction that Elena's stomach was forceful in trying to let him know that the animal blood wasn't agreeing with her.

Now, as Damon listened to Elena's sniffles from the bathroom, the overwhelming smell of Pine-sol drifted through the hallway.

"I'm sorry, Stefan." Elena's voice was choked as she fought through another wave of tears.

"It's okay. You'll get used to it. I did."

Soft footsteps sounded in the hallway, stopping right outside his door. A very pale Elena, her skin had lost its olive glow and now almost matched the white washcloth she held to her mouth, paused in his doorway. Her eyes were bloodshot, and tendrils of her hair curled damp around her face and shoulders. She stood there, silently watching him move around the room. "I thought you left." Her words held the barest hint of accusation.

"You what?" Damon put down the towel he was folding.

Elena stiffened. "When I woke up. You weren't there any longer. I thought…" Her lip began to tremble and she drew in a shaky breath.

"Shhh." Damon crossed the room and stood in front of her. He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I just thought you and Stefan needed some time…alone."

Elena nodded stiffly and swallowed, her eyes wide and vulnerable. He knew she didn't intend to make him desire her even more, but right now, he seriously wanted to kill his brother for his role in putting that much sadness in her eyes.

"How are you doing?"

Elena shrugged and shook her head. Her lip quivered so much her teeth began to chatter.

Damon couldn't stand it any longer. To hell with Stefan standing down the hall. Screw their agreement. He doubted if Elena even remembered making any decision that night, and right now, she needed something his brother damn sure wasn't providing. Damon pulled Elena into his chest and smoothed her hair. "You're going to be alright."

"Damon, I can't do this."

He pulled back and focused on her eyes. "Yes, you can." He cupped her cheeks in his hands. "We're going to get you through this."

"But Damon..." She cast a guilty glance back over her shoulder.

"Everything okay in here?" Stefan stood in the doorway, wiping his hands on a towel.

Elena nodded like an obedient child and pulled away from Damon. Before any of them had a chance to continue the conversation, the doorbell sounded from below.

* * *

"Elena, you…"

"Look like hell. I know." Elena had actually scared herself when she'd glanced in the mirror that morning. She was well aware of the pallor of her cheeks and the shadows under her eyes. She sat perched on the edge of the leather couch, uncomfortable under the weight of Caroline's inspection.

"How is everything going?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Elena shot to her feet and stormed in the direction of the fireplace.

"Because you've been a vampire for about….six hours." Caroline glanced at her watch.

Really? Just six hours. It felt like an eternity since she'd made the decision. She was still fighting to separate reality from some of the most vivid dreams she'd ever had. Her hands unconsciously flew to her neck to slide the charm from her necklace from side to side. She even dreamed that….

"Elena?" Stefan's voice broke into her thoughts. "Caroline was talking to you."

Right. Elena took a breath and tried to focus. Focus on the words Caroline was saying – not the overwhelming smell of smoke from the fireplace or the boom from the grandfather clock down the hall or the faint scent of leather from Damon's jacket. Where was Damon? She turned in a circle.

"Elena?" Caroline let out an annoyed huff. "Can you stay with me for just five minutes."

"Ok." Elena nodded and focused all her attention on Caroline.

"My mom's not going to be able to delay the funeral. By the time she got to the ME's office, he'd already filed the report."

Elena squeezed her hands so tightly into fists that she drew blood.

Blood.

She was hungry. Starving. She didn't know the last time the thoughts of how ravenous she was totally filled her entire consciousness.

"Elena." Damon stepped into the room. "Alaric's funeral is going to be the day after tomorrow." His eyes fixed on hers and for once she could focus on something other than the overwhelming attack on her senses. Of course, his eyes were attacking her in a totally different way.

Now she was hungry for something that definitely wasn't food.

"Elena." Damon's voice was calming as he approached her. "We need to know if you're going to be okay to go to the funeral. Alaric's funeral." He repeated the last words for emphasis.

Alaric's funeral. Elena lowered her head and tears welled in her eyes. "I'm the reason he's dead."

"No." Caroline's reply was forceful. "Esther's the reason he's dead. You're the reason the rest of us are alive. He was going to kill all of us." Caroline looked between the two brothers in the room. "Can y'all give us a little space?" Her eyes narrowed. "I think we need some girl time."

Damon nodded and walked toward the stairwell. Stefan kept his seat.

"Both of you." Caroline looked pointedly at Stefan. She waited for him to disappear down the hallway. She took the seat on the couch that Stefan had vacated. "Elena." Caroline reached out and took hold of Elena's hand. Only a faint trickle of blood slid down her palm now. She pulled her to the couch next to her. "Will you be alright for the funeral?"

"I have to be." Elena was certain about that. She might be dreaming about Damon placing the necklace around her neck, but she was sure about this new reality. "I really am the reason he's dead. I'm the one who asked him to stay. When Stefan was…with Klaus, Alaric wanted to leave. I asked him to stay."

"Oh, you can't think like that." Caroline wrapped Elena in a hug and pulled her tightly into her shoulder. "Elena, we all have things we'd do differently." She took a deep breath and pushed Elena off her shoulder. "But right now, I'm worried about you. How's the whole…blood thing working out?"

Elena shook her head and lowered her eyes.

"That well, huh?" Caroline stooped down to make eye contact with Elena. "I remember the whole – furry friend thing. It didn't work for me. It's ok if you…"

"No. No." Elena bit down on her lip and stood up, taking a few steps back from Caroline. "I have to learn how to do this."

"Blood bags don't hurt anyone, Elena."

Elena shook her head vigorously. "It's important to Stefan. He says I'll be able to do this. I just need more practice. Maybe it's just because the blood's always cold when he brings it back." She took a deep breath to still her stomach as hit churned queasily at the memory. "He's going to try to teach me to hunt tonight."

"Tonight?"

Elena held out her hand. "I don't have a ring." She shoved her hands into her pockets. "I don't think Bonnie trusts me yet."

"We'll have to fix that before the funeral." Caroline nodded as if she were making a mental note to herself. "But Elena, if you can't drink the animal blood…."

"Of course she can." Stefan came into the room with three champagne glasses in one hand and a bottle of the beverage in the other. "Just going to take a little getting used to. After all, you did really well this afternoon."

"I'm not sure if that qualifies as successfully feeding." Elena frowned. "I think it all ended back up on your bedspread."

"And the floor. And the bathroom." Stefan nodded in agreement. "But you swallowed it. That's what counts. It'll get easier. I choked it down for almost six weeks." Stefan placed the glasses on the table.

"Stefan, it made me sick. I…."

Stefan interrupted Elena as he wrapped his arm around her. "But let's not talk about that right now." He popped the cork on the bottle. "To Elena's new life."

* * *

The red fox struggled to his feet as Elena released it from her grasp. She wiped the mixture of blood and fur from her chin while fighting back a wave of nausea. Instead of helping her feed, the warm blood only made her stomach unsettled faster.

The second night of hunting wasn't going any better than the first – no matter what she'd just told Caroline on the phone. Elena was dizzy. Her reaction time was even slower than before. So far, a bear, a deer and an elk had all slipped through her grasp. The only reason she'd been able to catch the fox was the poor thing already had a limp.

Stefan offered to catch something for her, but somehow that just made it worse. She couldn't feed while he held a struggling animal down.

She brushed the dirt from her palms as she hesitantly stood to her feet, surprised to see Stefan beaming down at her. "Have I told you how proud I am of you?" He stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You're doing so well." He brought his lips to hers and she pushed away.

"But I'm not." Elena protested.

"Yes you are." He rested his hands on her shoulders and brought his forehead down to meet hers. "I knew this wouldn't be easy for someone like you."

"Like me?"

"This is going to take some getting used to. You're compassionate. Loyal. Kind. Protective." Stefan brushed a kiss along her hairline.

"Is that who you think I am?" Elena studied the pensive expression on his face. Did he think she was a woman or a golden retriever? Considering her last meal, it was probably better if she didn't think about that last question too much.

"That's who I know you are." Stefan wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began to lead her back through the woods to the house.

* * *

Elena retched into the toilet. Again. At least this was better than throwing up behind a bush or under a tree. She knew that from recent experience. The tips of her hair dipped into the red-tinged water, and her stomach rolled again. She closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the cool of the porcelain. Strong hands gently gathered her hair at the nape of her neck. "You don't need to be in here." Another wave came over her and she was thankful Damon had pulled her hair out of the way. She didn't know how that tiny fox could have filled her stomach that much.

"That had to be a record. You've been home for what, fifteen…twenty minutes?" Still holding her hair with one hand, he reached for the washcloth draped over the edge of the sink with the other. "You're making progress."

Elena chuckled to herself. He'd been prepared this time. He handed her the damp washcloth. She shook her head and wiped her mouth. "I threw up four times in the woods on the way back."

"What does Stefan think you're doing?"

"Chasing squirrels, I guess." She forced a sad smile.

Damon stared at her trembling hands. "Elena. You can't keep this up. It's been two days now. Let me just go down to the basement…"

Elena shifted away from the toilet and leaned against the wall. Damon came with her, and she leaned against him for support. "No. Stefan thinks I'll make it through this. It took him a month. It's just going to take some time."

"And we all know that Stefan's always right." Damon didn't hid the venom in his voice.

Elena ignored the challenge in his comment. She had a more important question for him – one that she could only ask while Stefan was outside doing…something. "Damon?" She turned her head and looked up at him. "Can I ask you a question?"

"If you want me to teach you to feed the right way, just ask." He smirked.

"Don't….mention food right now." Elena brushed her face with the washcloth before Damon tugged it from her hand and took over the job. He held it at the back of her neck and she relaxed back against his chest. "Much better. How'd you know?"

"Med school." Damon answered without blinking.

"Med school?"

His smirk widened. "You'd be surprised at the things I've done." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Be serious. Just for a minute." Elena took a deep breath. "I keep having a dream, but I don't think it's a dream." She looked at him, waiting for a reply.

He wasn't going to make it that easy for her. "And?"

"It was about my necklace." A muscle in his jaw twitched. Elena was stunned. "It wasn't a dream." She waited for him to correct her, but it didn't come. "Why?"

"Why did I give you your necklace back?" Damon wiped the cloth over the corner of her lip where a trickle of blood had dried. "You needed it."

"Why did you make me forget?"

A door opened downstairs, and Elena stiffened. Damon slid out from beneath Elena and helped her to her feet. "Would it have really made any difference?"

"Elena?" Bonnie's voice called out from below.

Elena turned back and forth in confusion, torn between the loaded question Damon had just asked and Bonnie's presence below.

"Let's go see if we can get you a ring." Damon glanced down at his watch. "Funeral starts in a few hours."

Very much aware of her disheveled state, Elena descended the stairs. She knew her hair was damp, and twigs and grass still clung to her jeans and shoes. When she'd arrived back at the boardinghouse, changing clothes wasn't a top priority.

"Hello, Elena." Bonnie stood stiffly in front of the fireplace. Any warmth from the fire was sucked up by Bonnie's icy greeting.

"Hello." Elena took hold of the back of the couch for support.

"Stefan called me. You need a ring?"

So that was going to be how this morning's visit was going to go. No pleasantries. No question about how Elena was doing. Bonnie was angry about being asked to come to the boardinghouse again, although Elena really could hardly blame her. It scarcely seemed a week went by that they weren't summoning her for yet another useful piece of magic. "I need to go to the funeral, Bonnie." She paused. "Please." Elena wasn't above begging. She'd been in the hospital when her parents were buried. Then Jenna and John didn't have a real funeral. Caroline may have told Elena not to blame herself, but Elena still needed to go watch her guardian be laid to rest.

"I don't know." Bonnie shook her head.

"Bonnie, get real." Caroline's voice echoed from the entryway. She entered the room, flanked by Tyler. At least now Elena knew what Stefan had been doing….calling reinforcements for Bonnie's visit. "Between Damon, Stefan, Tyler, and me, we can keep her under control."

"I'm not a wild animal." Elena's anger flared. How dare they imply that she couldn't keep from hurting people at Alaric's funeral?

Bonnie's lips formed a thin line and she shook her head. "Caroline, how many deputies did you kill right after you turned?"

"Bonnie…this is Elena we're talking about." Stefan came into the room. "She had trouble feeding from a rabbit. She's not going to wipe out the whole church."

"You can take it back after the service. Just…please."

"Come on, Bonnie."

Elena gripped the back of the couch for support as another familiar voice came into the room. What was this, a kind of twisted family reunion? Jeremy stepped through the back hallway and entered the room with Matt just behind him.

All the conversation stopped as Matt and Elena stared at each other.

And then Elena ran.

* * *

Woo hoo! No, it isn't Christmas. I'm just procrastinating writing my NaNo piece. If y'all are really good about reviewing….I just might be able to write the third part (of what is really one LONG chapter – even though I've broken them up as 3, 4, and 5) and post it tomorrow.

Thanks a million!

-N.E.P.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: Thanks for the support in the earlier chapters I posted this week. It really is an awesome feeling for an author to realize people are reading and enjoying something – or at least it is for me. This is the last installment of my "3 part chapter." While the story itself will continue, I've posted these three sections close together because they're really one long chapter, but I prefer my fanfic chapters to be a little shorter.

After this chapter, I hope to have an update ready by the weekend, but I can't promise that. From here on out, I'm hoping that my plotline diverges from the show – but sometimes my thinking is kind of similar to the writers', so we'll have to just wait and see.

Warnings: MATURE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, violence, blood, language, adult content, character death, popular TV trope in later chapters (any guesses?), Stefan

* * *

"_What are you doing here?" _Stefan's voice carried down the stairs into the basement.

"_Damon called. Said Elena wanted to ride to the funeral with me. Thought it would look more natural for her to be riding with her brother." _Jeremy answered, but Damon didn't need to hear the whole explanation. He's the one who called Jeremy and Matt in the first place. He needed their help.

He pushed the first of the dungeon doors open. No Elena. He continued down the darkened hallway. She was down here somewhere. Her ragged breathing filled his ears...and there was no way she could have gotten around him. "Elena?" He opened the second door. Still empty. "Elena?" Damon pushed the door to the store room open with a creak.

Elena. She stood in the farthest corner of the room, valiantly fighting for control as the faintest hint of veins circled her eyes.

"You set me up." Her eyes flashed red as she lunged in Damon's direction.

He caught her and held onto her arms before she could do either of them any harm – or give Bonnie any reason not to give her the ring she needed so desperately. "You needed a reality check." He wrapped her in a bear hug as his words sunk in and the fight gradually left her. "You're about to be in a very small room while emotions are running extraordinarily high. You've never experienced anything like it. Trust me." She tried once more to squeeze out of his arms. He leaned down closer to her ear, careful to speak softly enough that they wouldn't be overheard by any of the vampires upstairs. "And you're starving. Not the best recipe for learning how to control yourself."

Her muscles relaxed, and he tentatively loosened his grip. "I want you to be able to do this. I want to give you the chance to say goodbye. But you can't. Not if you haven't fed. You lost control the second Jeremy and Matt walked into the room. Imagine that magnified by two hundred."

"I tried." She pleaded with him.

"I know that. I've watched you." He glanced at the refrigerator standing next to the door. "If you want any chance of making it through the funeral. You're going to need to feed." Elena nodded hesitantly. Damon went to the fridge and pulled out a bag. "Pretend it's a juice box."

Elena rolled her eyes. There was the girl he knew. Her lips wrapped around the tube, and she took a tentative sip.

And then everything went badly wrong. "Ahh." She swallowed and clawed at her throat. "It burns." Her eyes watered as she dropped the blood bag at her feet, ignoring it as it splashed and covered Damon's legs.

"What?"

Elena coughed and sputtered. "Burns. Damon it hurts. Oh. It's like fire." She panted an explanation.

Damon didn't wait for permission. He tore into his own arm and held it in front of her lips, knowing she was too needy to resist. Even if it made her sick later, it might take away the pain.

This time wasn't like the last. When she fed on him to transition, she'd taken a single sip, but now she was beyond hungry. It was only as he felt the need radiating out from her that he realized exactly how close to starving she'd been.

She moaned in a mixture of relief and ecstasy. He felt the first stirrings of something more than just the satisfaction that she wasn't going to starve at the same time as she looked at him in surprise. "It's okay." He pulled her more tightly against his chest as he whispered into her ear. "Sometimes, when a vampire feeds on another vampire, it can be _personal_." Even as the implications of his words dawned on her, she didn't stop. She couldn't.

He supported more and more of her weight as she made no attempt to break away. Her eyes locked on his as she continued to drink. Her eyes darkened with desire, and she swallowed one last time before the overwhelming wave of pleasure washed over both of them and pulled her out of the desire to feed. Her knees buckled beneath her, and, overwhelmed by his own physical response, Damon slid down the wall.

Her eyes filled with a faint hint of fear. "What just happened?"

Damon could feel the pool of warmth on his lap. She knew what just happened. "Nothing you should be ashamed of." He kissed the top of her head. Even he hadn't been prepared for the outcome. In the past, feeding from another vampire had added to a night of passion, but he'd never experienced anything like that before. "You needed blood before you could go to the funeral."

"Elena? Damon? Everything alright down there?" Jeremy called down the stairs.

"You alright?" Damon stood and pulled a shaky Elena to her feet. Her cheeks had more color than he'd seen in days, but he wasn't sure if that was from the blood or what happened after she began to feed.

Elena nodded. She smoothed her skirt and gave a hesitant smile. "I'm fine."

* * *

Elena twisted the new ring on her finger. She wished it wasn't on her ring finger, and that Bonnie hadn't left it with Stefan. He'd had an odd expression on his face when he slid it onto her hand in celebration. Having so many friends and her one remaining member of the family standing around them when he did it made it feel oddly…not right. She'd glanced at Damon, but his face was unreadable.

Now, she was thankful for the ability to sit under the beam of sunlight streaming into the church she'd gone to as a child, but she hadn't been prepared for everything else.

Thudding heartbeats.

Waves of emotion.

Tears.

It would be easy for her to be caught up in it, but that would mean she'd risk losing control. Jeremy glanced in her direction as Mr. Billings took his place behind the podium. Three songs. Four speakers. A message from Pastor Williams. And now their principal had to speak? Was this service going to go on forever?

She slid sweaty palms along her black dress. As the closest thing Alaric had to relatives, she and Jeremy were seated front and center. She could hear Damon and Stefan breathing just behind her. They'd been careful to not let her get too far out of reach.

Caroline sat off to her right with Bonnie and the other cheerleaders. They'd already finished off one box of tissues. Elena hadn't realized just how popular Alaric had become in such a short period of time.

Tears threatened to overwhelm her. It hadn't even been a year and a half since her parents' funeral, but she hadn't been there to see it. Is this what it was like? Practically everyone in the town was here now. Were they here then? Did they say goodbye to her mom and dad? Jenna didn't even get a public goodbye.

Elena's heart pounded in her ears as she drew in a halting breath. An arm wrapped reassuringly around her shoulder, and Jeremy looked over at her with concern.

"Students. Faculty. Friends. Alaric Saltzman made a lasting impression on this town during the short time he was here with us." Mr. Billings paused and turned in the direction of Elena and Jeremy. "He even managed to end up with two teenagers he considered his own. Jeremy. Elena. He may not have really been one of your parents, but he was so proud of both of you."

A cold sweat broke out along Elena's forehead as the attention of everyone in the church turned to her. She couldn't do this. Her stomach heaved with a feeling that had grown much too familiar in recent days. Paying no heed to the fact that half the town was watching her, she made a mad dash for the back door. She knelt at the edge of the juniper bushes and lost her most recent attempt to feed on anything.

"Elena." Jeremy huddled protectively over her, effectively blocking her from view as footsteps gathered around her. Damon. Then Stefan came to his side. She couldn't turn back to look at them if she wanted to. Her fingers trailed through the fresh mulch as she desperately searched for something to cling to as wave after wave of nausea held her in its grip.

"Jeremy, is she alright?" Mrs. Lockwood called out from the church's front stairs.

His hand rested on her back. "She's going to be fine. Just a little overwhelmed."

Surely her stomach had to be empty by now. She hadn't taken that much from Damon. Had she? She rocked back on her heels and peered up at the trio of men staring at her with concern.

"Come on, Elena. Let me take you home." Jeremy helped her to her feet and led her to the car.

* * *

"Come on in." Jeremy stepped out of the doorway as Damon walked through the door. Tyler and Caroline followed close behind. Somewhere between the church and Elena's house, he'd lost track of Stefan. Right now, that was a good thing. He didn't know for sure, but he strongly suspected she wouldn't be enduring this discomfort if his brother weren't so dead-set on keeping her on the _vegetarian _diet.

"It's okay. Everybody just thought she was upset." Caroline reassured Jeremy as she made her way into the kitchen, a small casserole dish in hand. "Mrs. Peterson wouldn't let me leave without promising to bring y'all lunch."

"Not sure if either of us are able to eat yet." Jeremy's skin was still a faint shade of green.

Tyler cringed. "Where is Elena?"

"Upstairs. She wanted to change clothes." Jeremy gave an uncomfortable look in Damon's direction. "Stefan got here just before y'all did." He picked up the covered dish and placed it in the refrigerator.

"Is Matt still coming?" Tyler picked up a pen laying on the island in the kitchen and clicked it open and closed.

Caroline nodded while she knelt in front of the sink. She dug through the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of 409. She sprayed the already-clean countertops to give herself something to do. "He said he wanted to walk over."

The shower turned off upstairs, and Damon listened as the door to Elena's room opened. "Stefan! You surprised me. Can you give me a second?" His brother's heavy footfalls echoed as he paced in the hallway upstairs. The door creaked back open and shut.

"And that's my cue to leave." Damon nodded goodbye to Jeremy and then to Tyler and Caroline. Between the three vampires and Jeremy, his presence wasn't really needed here. Damon's boots echoed off the hardwood floors as he walked to the front door. It was awfully quiet upstairs. He didn't even want to think about what that meant. He opened the door and shut it with an odd feeling of finality.

He'd made a deal with Stefan. Florida was nice this time of year. So was Hawaii. It had been years since he'd been in one place this long. He should leave. Every time he cradled her in his arms when she was sick…only to watch her step back to Stefan's side tore a piece of his heart.

But now, he wasn't sure if he could honor his agreement. Saying Elena was having difficulty with the transition was an understatement. He needed to find Katherine…or a witch who knew more than Bonnie.

His hand closed around the car door handle just as the first hint that something was wrong in the Gilbert house sounded. Wood broke with a crash followed by the tinkling of shattering glass. What the hell? Something had killed three of Klaus' hybrids. Had it found out about Elena? He crossed the yard in a flash just as a scream sounded from above.

"Stefan, I'm sorry." Elena cried out. "I'm _so_ sorry."

"You lied to me."

"I tried to tell you."

"You lied!" Something struck a wall with a thud.

Damon didn't even remember mounting the stairs.

"Get. Out. Of. My. House." With no weapon in hand, Jeremy faced off with Stefan. His anger rolled off of him in waves as he stood protectively in front of Elena.

Caroline stood on one side of Jeremy, and Tyler stood tense at the other. "Stefan, she did tell you. I was there."

Stefan's face was a mask of anger and rage. He appeared to be trying to decide who to attack next, but there was no trace of the vampire visage - only the blind fury Damon remembered so well from their father.

"No. It's not his fault." Elena struggled to sit up from the spot next to the bed where she sat crumpled on the floor. The dresser was shattered into hundreds of puzzle-like pieces, and the glass from the mirror twinkled like diamonds across the floor. The Elena-shaped depression in the wall made him see red.

He would have happily torn his brother from limb to limb if he hadn't seen Elena's eyes. She was afraid. "I'm sorry, Stefan. I shouldn't have fed from him. I should have come to you instead." And she was still pleading with Stefan…

"I told you to get out." Jeremy advanced toward Stefan as Tyler took hold of Stefan's arm. Together, the two young men led Stefan from the room.

"No. No. It's my fault." Elena tried to sit up again. "I made him angry. Really, it's not his fault."

Caroline reached for Elena, but it was too late. Everything about being a vampire was magnified – including overwhelming fear. Elena began to hyperventilate. "No. No. No." She shook her head violently, not even realizing Caroline was pulling her to her feet. "I made him mad. I should have thought. I should have known…."

"Shh…" Caroline brushed Elena's hair out of her face, revealing a gash just below her temple.

Elena began rocking in her place on the window seat. "He didn't mean it. Really, he didn't."

"Elena?" Caroline spoke softly. "Has he hit you before?"

Elena's eyes pleaded with her in desperation. "Just once…twice if you count the time he was trying to threaten Klaus. But really, he was mad then. He wasn't himself. I made him mad. I should have thought... It was my fault."

Caroline looked up at Damon. He was frozen in the middle of the room, unable to completely process what he'd just heard. He'd worked so hard to protect Stefan from their father. He never dreamed Stefan would become just like him – and he definitely never realized he'd ever struck Elena.

He studied the mess in Elena's room once more. If she hadn't been a vampire, she never would have survived Stefan's attack. Like father, like son. "Elena, look at me." Damon crouched in front of Elena. "Stefan hit you. That wasn't your fault. Someone else hitting you is _never_ your fault." He should know. He took a closer look at her face. Her eye was already swelling. Her hair was matted from the blood flowing from the cut above her eye.

"Damon?" Jeremy returned to the room and inhaled in surprise.

"You got this?" Damon waited for a nod from Caroline as he crossed the room. "Come on Jeremy, show me where the ice is."

"I'm pretty sure you know where the ice is." Jeremy didn't move out of the doorway.

"Then help me find an ice bag. Surely you have one around here. Your dad was a doctor." Damon threw Jeremy a pointed look.

"But."

Damon looked at him like he was the one who just got hit on the head. "Come on." Finally Jeremy understood and followed Damon out of the room. "What are you doing here?" Damon asked Matt as he stood at the bottom of the stairwell.

"Door was open." Matt answered simply.

"What's wrong with her?" Jeremy followed Damon like a puppy. "I thought vampires were supposed to heal."

"She's not strong enough." Damon opened a drawer and dug through it, only finding a handful of dishtowels. "Really, where's the ice bag?"

"She's not strong enough?" Matt repeated.

Damon slammed a second drawer closed in disgust. "Is there an echo in here?" Damon shook his head in annoyance. "My dear brother, who you were just so kind to throw out of your house before I staked him with a piece of the dresser he broke, seems to have Elena convinced that the bunny diet is the only way to survive. Sadly, her stomach disagrees. Blood from a bag burns her skin like it's laced with acid. My blood…is also a no go….hence the disruption at the funeral."

Matt circled the kitchen island and knelt down, reaching into the far right cabinet. He pulled out a blue ice bag. "I used to spend a lot of time here." He shrugged and handed it to Damon.

"Is she going to die?" Jeremy voiced the question both the high schoolers wanted to ask.

Damon turned to the freezer and pulled out a handful of ice, pausing long enough to answer. "I don't know. She's not transitioning – at least not completely. That might be because she initially fed on me…or it could be another lovely side effect of her life as a doppleganger."

"Katherine drinks blood from a bag." Jeremy prompted.

"Does she? I've seen her hold one, but I've never seen her drink. She'd never be stupid enough to let us know about something she considers a weakness." Damon stuffed one final handful of ice in the bag and screwed the lid on top.

Matt looked guiltily at Damon. "How can we help Elena?"

Damon fixed his eyes on Matt's neck. "Find a willing volunteer."

* * *

Damon carried the ice bag and a towel into Elena's room. Matt followed closely behind, his heartbeat racing. Damon could have sworn that Matt's heart skipped a beat when he caught sight of Elena.

She looked small and defeated, like she'd committed an unforgivable crime. A single tear cascaded down her cheek. Even the ever-confident Caroline Forbes even seemed to be at a loss as to how to best help her friend.

Damon takes Caroline's place. "Elena. It's going to be okay. Right now, you're still getting used to being a vampire. Everything feels more extreme than it has before. We're all going to help you." As he caressed her cheek, he'd never been more aware of all the eyes on him. "You've tried. We all know that. But something's not right. Your body's fighting the transition. That's why you're still bleeding. You're a vampire - that cut should have healed by now." He didn't do good – at least not when anyone other than Elena could see him. "Elena, do you trust me?"

She nodded.

"Feed from me." Matt stepped forward, and Damon was amazed that he didn't show a hint of his original fear. Of course, the reason she needed Matt's blood right now was because she'd traded her life for his. He could stand to loose a few pints…every day….for the rest of his life.

"No. I can't." Elena shook her head in protest.

Caroline took hold of Elena's hand and squeezed. "Yes, you can. We promise. We won't let you hurt him. You need to do this."

Damon motioned for Matt to come closer before he helped Elena to her feet.

Matt reached out, just like he used to wrap her in a hug. Elena couldn't resist any longer. Her face changed, and her fangs pierced Matt's skin. She gave a contented sigh as the blood flowed into her mouth. Just as Caroline made a move to pull Elena off him, Elena's grip loosened from Matt's waist, and she pulled herself away.

* * *

So…now you've read my "pet theory." While I loved Stefan in the books, my dislike of his character has grown immensely as the seasons have progressed. Whether the writers are aware of it or not, I believe his character has crossed the lines of physical and emotional domestic abuse more than once.

I'm about to get "heavy" on you – if you want to stop here, that's completely fine with me. If you'd like to see why I think Stefan's behavior is abusive toward Elena – read on.

We've seen Stefan throw Elena to the wall in _Miss Mystic Falls. _He also fed her his blood and threatened to drive her off Wickery Bridge because he knew that would provide the correct emotional response from Elena that he needed Klaus to hear. In the S4 premiere, we watched as he verbally attacked her for going to Damon for help – even after she'd tried to tell him what was wrong. He reduced her to tears and then played the role of the "good guy" in public where their friends could see them. And finally, we had the interaction in the woods before Elena went on "feeding lessons" with Damon. Instead of supporting her attempts to learn to feed (since she can't use his preferred sources), he continually questioned her – until I think she questioned herself…and we saw that once she made eye contact with Bonnie. Elena was ripped out of the moment and her thoughts went back to the time she'd spent with Stefan that morning and the warning he'd given.

Just to back me up because it happens more often than any of us like to talk about or admit….I pulled the definition from an abuse hotline website -

_Emotional abuse includes verbal abuse such as yelling, name-calling, blaming, and shaming. Isolation, intimidation, and controlling behavior also fall under emotional abuse. Additionally, abusers who use emotional or psychological abuse often throw in threats of physical violence or other repercussions if you don't do what they want._

Thanks for reading. Sorry for my soapbox moment. For some reason, this section of the plot this season has really troubled me.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry – didn't expect to get a round of edits last week. I should be back on track to post weekly from here on out. I don't anticipate this being a hugely long story, so we're probably 5 chapters from the end.

Before I keep on going, I have to stop and wish one of DE fan fiction's biggest cheerleaders happy birthday! Daisy, this one's for you.

Warnings: Mature - character death, blood, adult content, language, violence, no Stefan, no Bonnie

* * *

A knock sounded at the front door and Jeremy looked up from his pile of textbooks. The one good thing about his current life of solitude was his increased GPA. Ever since Elena moved out, he'd found himself studying for hours every night just to have something to do between dishes and a time he could justify going to bed. The knocking repeated. Whoever was at the door didn't seem to care that it was almost eleven. That was never a good sign.

Jeremy slowly rose from his seat on the couch and approached the door cautiously. Peering out the side window, an unfamiliar man stared back at him. "Jeremy Gilbert?"

Bracing the door with the toe of his boot, he cracked it open an inch. "Kind of late, isn't it?" Now that the door was open, Jeremy could better see the visitor. Standing at least four inches below his line of sight, Jeremy realized he could easily overpower the man's slight build – as long as he was human….and that was always a question in this town.

The man nodded and frowned. "I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night, but it's important. I need to speak with your sister. Can I come in?"

"Who are you?" Jeremy had more than enough experience after living in Mystic Falls the past year and a half to know that nothing good arrives on your doorstep after dark.

"I'm Dr. Atticus Shane." He carefully reached into his pocket and withdrew a business card. "A friend sent me."

Jeremy took hold of the card and studied it.

_Dr. Atticus Shane_

_Spirituality and the Occult _

_Moreland University_

_555-123-3344_

"Professor of the Occult?" Jeremy stared at the card, half expecting it to burst into flames now that he'd read it.

"I can explain if you'll just let me inside." Professor Shane took a confident step toward the door. A dark shape appeared behind the visitor. Alaric sternly shook his head in an unspoken no.

"I don't think so." Jeremy took a step back and shut the door.

"But I need to talk with your sister." Dr. Shane protested.

"Sorry." Jeremy closed the door and locked the deadbolt, leaving his visitor sputtering on the porch. "What was that about? And why was he looking for Elena?"

"No idea." Alaric's frown deepened. "But I can tell you that he's more than just a professor."

* * *

"So this guy shows up on the front porch in the middle of the night, and you never think about calling someone?" Damon poured a glass of bourbon, glanced at Jeremy's shaken appearance, turned to the cabinet, and pulled out a second tumbler.

"Alaric was there."

Damon flinched at the mention of his friend. "And what was he going to do, haunt him to death?"

"You didn't see this guy. I could have taken him." Jeremy answered with the cocky self-assurance of a teenager who'd had to face situations normally reserved for horror movies and haunted houses.

"Still. You should have called someone." Damon handed Jeremy the drink. "If Elena lost you…." Damon couldn't finish the sentence.

"Where is she anyway?" Jeremy winced and swallowed. He turned toward the stairs as if seeking a sign of Elena.

Damon polished off the last of his drink and leaned over the back of the couch. "I wouldn't know."

Jeremy's brow furrowed. "She's still staying with Caroline?" He glanced nervously at Damon. His pulse sped as his discomfort increased. "I mean, I thought. You know. I assumed she'd be here. I mean..."

"Spit it out Jeremy." Damon raised an eyebrow and pointed at the clock. "Don't want to make you late for school."

Jeremy fidgeted in his seat on the couch. He spun his ring on his finger, obviously wishing he'd never mentioned whatever was bothering him. "That night. In Denver."

Damon knew exactly what night Jeremy meant before he clarified his statement. Some nights, those moments replayed on seemingly never-ending loop in his dreams. His fingers threaded through her hair as his other hand cupped her ass. His lips brushed over the smooth skin between her breasts. If the young man sitting in front of him hadn't walked out of their room at that exact moment, Damon was fairly certain the night would have ended very differently.

"Rose." Jeremy suddenly found the bird landing in the bushes outside the picture window very interesting. His cheeks flushed – surprising for a 16 year old boy. "Rose wanted me to tell you that she was rooting for the two of you."

Now he was intrigued. "She said what?" Of all the messages he'd thought Rose might choose to deliver from the beyond, hearing that she'd chose to give advice about his love life was a surprise.

Jeremy turned back to face Damon, staring him in the eyes without blinking. "She wanted me to tell you that she was hoping you and Elena would make it." Jeremy let out a long breath. "I didn't want to tell you." He ran his fingers nervously through his hair. "After last week…" Jeremy shrugged. "I wish I had."

"You're not alone."

* * *

Elena backed away from Matt and cautiously licked the corner of her mouth. She tugged a tissue out of the box on the side table and dabbed at her lips. "Thank you." She swallowed and took a deep breath, forcing herself to regain control over her thirst.

"You're sure that was enough?" Matt's blue eyes studied her with concern.

Elena tried to give a convincing nod. "Definitely." She looked away from the pearl of blood pooling at his wrist. "Thank you." She turned away from Matt and picked up her messenger bag and tugged the strap over the shoulder. "I've got to go."

"Oh, that's right." Caroline nodded. "You have that meeting with the counselor this morning."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Have to discuss my poor attendance record." She pulled her cell phone from her phone and checked for any new mail. Ten hits on her search for "animal attacks" and "unexplained death." She could help with the _unexplained _part. Stefan had once told her that if she didn't love him, his recovery from his most recent bout with ripper-dom would be at an end. So far, thirty people had paid the ultimate price after Damon kicked Stefan out of the boardinghouse.

"Elena?" Caroline stood inches from her face. Elena hadn't even heard her friend talking to her – not a good sign since she now had vampire senses. She was more distracted than she'd thought. "Will you be okay on your own? I wanted to stay with Matt for a minute."

"Yeah, sure." Elena glanced at Matt. He did seem a little pasty. "I'll see you at school."

"Definitely." Matt nodded encouragingly. "We're right behind you." He waited until she was out the door, and he heard her car rev to life. "Well?"

Caroline nodded grimly. "You're right." She shook her head. "There's no way she's eating enough. I mean, Elena's always been a stick, but I didn't even count to five before she was done."

"What should we do?" Matt put a bandage over his wrist.

"I think we're going to need to talk with Damon."

* * *

"How is she?" Damon looked up from the pile of charred werewolves. Exhaust from Tyler Lockwood's car still drifted over the clearing as he left after failing to identify any of the bodies. Sheriff Forbes scribbled one last note onto her clipboard and shook her head, fatigue evident on her face. They'd spent the last hour going over the burned out campsite, and Damon had danced around the subject for as long as he could, hoping that she'd bring it up on her own. Finding the remains of three werewolves not even a mile outside Mystic Falls was troubling, but Damon had other things preoccupying his mind.

"Still has me following the trail of Stefan's latest kills." Sheriff Forbes studied his face with the intensity of a trained investigator. They'd been doing this dance for over a week now. Every day, Damon would find a reason to drop by the sheriff's office and casually work a question about Elena into the conversation. Today was no different, except for the fact that Liz summoned him here, instead of him creating a reason to meet up with her. She gave an annoyed huff. "Why don't you just come by and see for yourself? I think it would do you both some good."

Damon shook his head. "I want to give her some space."

"Pretty sure she's had more than enough space." Liz's phone vibrated, and she turned her back to Damon as she answered it.

Damon walked away to give her the illusion of privacy. In order for him to not hear at least half the conversation, he'd have to be a lot farther away. He had to admit, though, that once he heard the name _Elena Gilbert, _he couldn't ignore the phone call from the high school….and Liz knew it. She turned the volume on her phone down so low it even defeated his sense of hearing.

"Yes. Thank you. Yes, I understand. I'll be right there." Liz ended the call and gave him a pointed look.

"It's Elena." He didn't even have to ask the question. One look at Liz's face told him there was a big problem.

"The school was calling to let me know she was truant." Liz was already crossing the field on her way to her car. "And I talked to Caroline this morning. I know Elena was on her way to school."

"So we have someone who just torched a pack of werewolves. My brother's on a rampage. And now Elena's missing?" Damon looked to Liz for confirmation. "In other words, just another typical day in Mystic Falls."

Liz rolled her eyes and shook her head. "What are you doing?"

Damon leaned against his car and rapidly keyed a code into his phone. "How many times did we lose her last year?" He paused and smiled. "I have her GPS activated on her phone."

"So you know where she is?" Liz appeared genuinely impressed.

"I've got this." Damon opened his car door as he pointed over his shoulder at the still-smoking bodies mounded behind them. "I'll leave you with….that."

* * *

Damon wouldn't have needed the GPS unit once he turned onto the street running between Matt's house and the high school. If Caroline had missed the damaged trees and SUV-sized hole in the vines, she had to be very distracted on her way to school. Exactly what had she and Matt been up to in their car?

He didn't have time to think about that. Of all the ways that a vampire could end up getting themselves into trouble….very few could be life-threatening. Having your car careening out of control into what was basically a forest filled with potential stakes – leave it to Elena to figure out the one way she could really get hurt.

"Elena?" Damon jumped out from behind the wheel of the car and sped down the new path carved into the hillside. "Elena!" His voice echoed into dappled half-light of the woods. School started hours ago. How could a vampire get so badly injured that she wouldn't be able to contact anyone?

He didn't want to think about it.

"Elena." Her SUV rested on its roof at the base of the hill, in a scene all too familiar to him. "Elena?" He crouched on his hands and knees and peered into the driver's side window.

Elena smacked her lips and swallowed. Warm blood trickled into her mouth and she woke with a start. Sputtering, she pushed herself back on the pile of pillows and away from Jeremy's arm. As pain shot through almost every inch of her body, she realized that was a very bad decision on her part. "Jeremy, what are you doing here?"

Jeremy faked a smile. "When your sister rolls her car on the way to school, you get to leave for the rest of the day."

"I mean…here." She glared at the wound on his arm. She never intended to feed on her brother – even if she was desperate. Judging by the throbbing in her side and her head, she had been desperate.

Damon walked into the room, and for the first time, she looked beyond her brother's face and at the surroundings around her. She wasn't in her bed at home. She was lying in the dead center of Damon's bed. Elena glanced at her shoulder….and she was wearing one of his shirts – judging from the way her legs felt – and that was all she was wearing. "Hey, Jeremy. Don't you need to get to work?"

Jeremy seemed to be reacting to an pre-planned signal between himself and Damon. "Yeah." He pulled his sleeve down over his wrist and buttoned the cuff. "Matt said he can come by around ten if you need him."

Damon's electric blue eyes slowly traveled over Elena's face. "We'll let him know." And then he turned his full attention to Elena, ignoring Jeremy as he picked up his jacket and left the room.

"What was Jeremy doing here?" Elena wasn't going to drop the subject. Damon knew how she felt about feeding from her brother. She'd made that abundantly clear after her unique dietary requirements came to light.

Damon settled on the edge of the bed. "He and Matt have been trading off this afternoon. You….needed their help." He appeared pained that there was something he couldn't provide for her. "You were in pretty bad shape. Only you could manage to stake yourself by wrecking your car." He tried to make light of it, but Elena could see the strain still left on his face.

Elena reached out and took his hand, earning a surprised smile from Damon. "You saved me." She pulled him into her side, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

She didn't have to hint too hard. Damon kicked off his shoes and slid to the center of the bed, cradling her head against his shoulder. She leaned up and looked into his eyes. "I'll always save you." He trailed a finger over her cheek, he'd cleaned most of the blood from her face, but her skin still bore a faint pink stain.

"Damon." She flinched as she raised herself up and stared intensely into his eyes. "I need to tell you something." Her face was so close to his that he could feel the warmth of her breath on his cheeks. "It would have made a difference."

"What?"

"That night….you asked me if would have made a difference if you hadn't compelled me to forget." She interlocked her fingers with his and held on tightly. "The answer is yes."

* * *

Sorry, I really needed to break it here...so, what do you think is coming next? Reviews make the updates come faster. :-) (Or at least that's the general idea.) Thanks for reading. Once again, happy birthday Daisy!


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: I know….awkward place to break the story last chapter, but I'd just covered so much ground, I needed to stop to give everyone a chance to process what was happening (and I'm evil).

Warnings: Mature – adult content, violence, character death, adult content, language, Bonnie, Stefan, did I mention adult content?

Please note: There is a time jump in this chapter. Please don't let it catch you off-guard.

* * *

"Elena?" Damon was certain he'd heard her wrong, or she was still feeling the effects of the wreck…which, considering the fact that vampires had incredible reflexes, he still needed to talk with her about exactly how it happened. But that could wait till later. As her chocolate brown orbs bored into him…he thought the discussion could wait till much, much later.

Elena's lips turned up in a minx-like grin as she sat up even higher on the bed. "I would have chosen you." She repeated while kneeling next to him. For the first time, she seemed to realize exactly what she was wearing. "Just your shirt?"

"Your clothes were a mess. I couldn't exactly put you in my bed like that." Damon attempted his best innocent puppy-dog expression. As much as he hated to admit it, he honestly hadn't enjoyed changing her clothes. He was too worried about why she hadn't been waking up. "Speaking of, how are you feeling?" Despite the predatory look in her eyes, he kept thinking she must have hit her head harder than he'd thought.

"Much better." She raised a leg and straddled him on the bed.

"Elena…." Damon tried to ease himself out from beneath her, but she had him fairly effectively pinned in place. Even if he'd wanted to, he'd been unable to ignore nights she'd spent sleeping over with Stefan before she turned – this was _not _typical Elena behavior. How much had Jeremy been drinking before he came over? Was she drunk?

"Damon, I would have chosen you." She settled on his lap, and he knew she couldn't ignore the growing pressure beneath her. His mind might be fighting the urge to rip all her clothes off, but a certain portion of his anatomy said to act first….think later. Elena shifted in place – she knew exactly what she was doing. "I tried. I wanted to." She paused and sadness washed over her face. "But every time I even thought about it, a soft voice in my head told me that Stefan was who I should choose. Your voice, Damon." A tear dropped off her cheek. "Even when I wanted to, I couldn't fight it."

The implications of her words crashed into him. When he'd compelled her that second time, he'd believed what he'd said. She was safer with Stefan. His brother was the better choice. He never knew what his brother had done to her when no one else was looking. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. You believed it at the time." Her smile returned as she leaned down and ran her hands over his chest. "I just wanted to let you know that _this _is my choice." She bent down over him and her hair trailed down and rested against his cheek. "I remember the things I felt while he was gone….and the feelings I have now."

And then words were no longer needed.

She attacked his lips with an intensity that even surprised Damon. He'd often seen glimpses of Katherine in her, but Elena's fire burned even hotter. She took the lead, and he was more than happy to let her.

His shirt hit the floor, followed quickly by his pants. Her breathing came in uneven gasps as she fought for control. As the telltale veins popped around her eyes, she froze. He cupped her cheek in his hand. "It's okay. You're a vampire now. Some things are more…intense." He couldn't resist asking. He had to know. "You and Stefan haven't?"

Elena shook her head as her face took on its more familiar form.

"Then you have no idea what you're in for." Damon flipped her on her back as he allowed his more natural form to take control. His shirt fell to the bed in tatters. Sad. He liked that shirt, but he liked what was beneath it even more.

Every touch from his hands set her skin ablaze. He bent lower on the bed and his lips started just above her belly button as he began his journey up her body. His kisses teetered on the brink between tender and demanding. They closed over her nipple while he gave a feral growl.

Elena's fingers threaded through his hair, pulling him closer – demanding more. He looked up, resting his chin in the valley between her breasts, just in time to see her finally allowing all her resistance to fall away. As her fangs extended, he allowed himself to change in kind. "No biting from you. Remember."

Laughing, Elena tugged him up to bring his lips to hers, taking charge and rolling atop him. "I definitely remember." Her hand worked its way between them and she took hold of him. His cock pulsed beneath her grip. "I remember one part _very _well." She raised an eyebrow suggestively. Damon needed no further urging. She groaned in pleasure as his fangs pierced her throat, sending waves of pleasure coursing through her. She craved even more contact with him, and she pressed her body completely against his.

Pressing kiss against the already-healing bite at the base of her throat, Damon rolled Elena onto her back. The blue of his eyes barely peeked out from the lust-swollen irises. His eyes fixed on hers as their bodies finally became one.

"Oh my god." Elena knew everything was more intense as a vampire, but she wasn't expecting _this. _Heat, desire, and pleasure washed over her and carried her to a state of euphoria.

"And we're just getting started." Damon growled into her ear as Elena's muscles clenched in time with his.

* * *

"I was expecting you yesterday." Liz looked up from a stack of paperwork on her desk as Damon walked through the doorway.

"I was…busy." Damon had to fight to keep the smile from his face. If Elena hadn't been so dead-set on going to school this morning, they would still have been _busy. _He checked his watch. He gave her till noon. Even with a vampire's stamina, there was no way she was going to be able to stay awake in class – not after last night.

Liz's brow furrowed and she gave a barely visible shake of her head. "I don't think I really want to know."

"And I wasn't planning on sharing." He stepped to the front of her desk, took hold of a wooden chair, and spun it around backwards. Straddling it, he leaned his chin on the headrest, even he was feeling the effects of last night's activities. God, he hadn't even expected Elena to have been _that _good.

Silence fell between them as Liz chose to wisely ignore Damon's comment. She'd long-since discovered that the supernatural creatures had one trait in common…and she'd learned to block out the sounds coming from Caroline's room at her house. There was no way in hell that she was going to sit and listen to Damon share the details of his night with Elena. She didn't have to….the satisfied smirk on his face showed her that the pair had finally worked out their differences. That, and the fact that Elena never arrived to share Caroline's room last night.

"So, do you have any news for me?" Damon broke the silence.

"A little." Liz admitted. "But first, what's going on with Elena? Caroline said she'd been at Matt's because she needed to eat?" Liz didn't look pleased with that last piece of information, which is why they'd been so careful to keep it from her.

"About that." Damon frowned. "We're keeping a close eye on her."

Liz nodded. "I can see that. Caroline thinks that's why Elena wrecked the car – she's not eating enough and she's just not strong enough." Damon cocked his head to the side. Caroline hadn't said anything to him to show she was concerned about how much Elena was eating. "Apparently she didn't even feed from Matt for five seconds."

Damon shook his head in annoyance. "That sounds like her. She's afraid she's going to hurt him."

"But why does she have to feed from him at all?" Liz leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Caroline's fine with the blood bags."

"Elena's a….special case." Damon shrugged his shoulders. "We don't really understand. She's having some trouble transitioning. She can't tolerate any blood unless it's from the vein. And even then, it has to be human blood – animal blood and vampire blood don't seem to agree with her. She's also still not healing as fast as a normal vampire."

"_Is _she a vampire?"

"Oh yes." Damon answered without hesitation. Any doubt he had as to whether or not she'd transitioned was gone. "She's _definitely _a vampire."

"And that's really more than I needed to know." Liz held her hands out in front of her to stop him from elaborating. "So why is she having the trouble?"

"We don't know." Damon answered simply. "But we have Bonnie trying to contact Lucy. Since she used to work for Katherine, she might be able to help."

"Let's hope so."

* * *

**_Four Weeks Later…._**

"Mistletoe?" Elena paused in the doorway between the library and the living room and studied the sprig of greenery dangling above her head.

Damon stood in front of her and wrapped his arms around her, reaching his hands into her back pockets. "Well." He kissed the pulse point at the base of her neck. "We are hosting a holiday dinner party. " He kissed the sensitive skin just below her ear. "I thought it would be a festive touch." His lips brushed against hers before he slid his hand from her pockets and scooped her up in his arms. Deepening the kiss, he knocked her back against the doorframe. For an instant, the fact that Matt, Caroline, Jeremy, and April were waiting in the kitchen was forgotten.

Elena moaned into his open mouth as she deepened the kiss. Her fingers untucked the back of his shirt and traveled beneath the waistband of his slacks. Her lips curled in amusement at what she couldn't find.

"I was planning on that being a surprise for later." Damon ducked his head and explored the plunging neckline of her sweater.

"Of course." Caroline's huff of annoyance broke the mood. "Okay you two. Separate." She stood with one hand holding a cheese tray while the other rested on her hip. "I'm pretty sure y'all are _hosting _the party." Her eyes widened in a silent lecture. "Your guests are arriving. You need to get out there and host." She narrowed her eyes at Damon. "After you take care of your little problem."

"You interrupted before I could take care of that." Damon gave an amused glance at his slacks.

"I meant the lipstick all over your face." Caroline rolled her eyes as she strode across the room, pressing the cheese tray into his hands. "And you…." She grabbed hold of Elena's upper arm. "We're going to need to redo your hair." She spun back around. "Damon. You're the host. Go…host." She pointed in the direction of the voices coming from the front door.

"What were you thinking?" Caroline practically dragged Elena up the stairs and into the room Elena now shared with Damon. "If this is going to work, you have to stay focused."

"We're having a dinner party, Caroline." Elena's face was still flushed pink as she pulled the hair elastic from the tip of her braid. She hadn't realized just how much damage Damon had done to her hair in such a brief period of time. Of course, she'd been more than a little distracted.

"And they're the dinner." Caroline shook her head. "But if you're going to learn to do this without hurting anyone, you've got to keep your head in the game. No tonsil-hockey with Damon – at least not until everyone's gone. When you let yourself get swept up in _any _emotion, it's too easy for you to lose control."

"You're right." Elena took a deep breath and practiced calming herself.

"Unless you want your brother and Matt to continue having to make house calls every night." Caroline glared at Elena's reflection in the mirror.

"No. No." Elena shook her head and picked up her hairbrush. "I've got this." Elena slowly brushed her hair, allowing the familiar movement to continue to calm her. She was the reason they were having this party in the first place. After a not-overly-successful trip trying to learn the art of _snatch, eat, and erase, _they realized that Elena would probably fare better learning to feed on people she actually cared about to some degree – she'd have more incentive to leave them standing if they were in the middle of her house.

"You remember the names on the list my mom gave you?" Elena nodded as Caroline continued. "Because you really don't want to tangle with someone who's taking vervain."

"I know." Elena reassured her friend. Damon had made certain Elena wouldn't forget who was on the _do not eat _list.

"One of us will help you get someone off on their own. And then we won't leave you alone. Just in case…." Caroline bit down on her lip.

"Trust me. I only lost control once." Elena cringed at the memory of the young man lying crumpled at her feet. Bonnie had underestimated how hungry her friend was and hadn't paid attention to how hard Elena had been feeding. It had taken Jeremy and Matt to get the guy into the cab at the nightclub after Caroline compelled him to believe he was very, very drunk. "It won't happen again." Elena finished the repairs to her braid. "I'm not that hungry any more. I've been careful."

"I know you have." Caroline's face still didn't look convinced. "And remember, watch out if they're wearing white. Look for someone with a patterned shirt or a high collar."

"Caroline!" Elena raised her voice. "I've got this." Her pulse sped as the room pitched around her. She clutched the cold marble vanity countertop for support while she fought to control the nerves rattling her stomach.

"Are you sure?" Caroline was at her side in an instant. "You don't look so good. Do I need to go get Damon?"

Elena nodded, swallowing slowly. They still weren't sure why she was experiencing these unusual sensations. She glanced in the mirror, no amount of makeup could hide the pallor on her face. "I'm fine. Really. Just a little nervous, I guess." She released her grip on the countertop and backed away, smoothing her skirt. "See." She held out her hand. "I'm not even shaking."

"Good. Good." Caroline let out a breath. "Well, let's go." Caroline led the way down the stairs where the party was already in full-swing. She made her way through the crowd to stand with Tyler while he talked with Matt. Elena was surprised to see Matt holding tightly to April Young's hand. She smiled, the pair made a cute couple.

Still on the lowest flight of stairs, Elena made eye contact with Damon who was standing in the foyer, greeting the last of their guests. Instead of a sexy smirk, a look of concern flashed over his face for an instant. She might have convinced Caroline that she was alright, but he knew her too well. She didn't have him fooled. "Excuse me for a moment." He nodded to the bank president's wife and snaked through the crowd. He reached out and took her hand, assisting her with the last two steps. "Are you alright?"

She doubted even the other vampires in the room heard his question. "I'm fine. Just a little nervous, I guess."

He ran his hands over her arms and pulled her back against his chest. "You've got this."

She looked up at him over her shoulder. "I know."

"Damon, Elena." Mrs. Lockwood interrupted their conversation. She turned away from them and motioned for someone to join her. "I'd like you to meet my guest. He's an old college friend of mine." She paused as a small dark-haired man came to stand at her side. "I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Atticus Shane. He's a professor at…."

"Moreland University." Damon finished Carol's sentence for her.

"Miss Gilbert." Dr. Shane took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "I've been waiting a very long time to meet you."

* * *

Well, this was short. I know. But consider it kind of a "two part" chapter, since it's a continuation from the one I posted last night. If everything goes well, I'll have the third portion of this section ready by Wednesday. Hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading and reviewing. I love hearing from y'all!


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: I hate to go all "lecture mode" on y'all, but I need to get a couple of things out of the way before I move on with the story.

First – I've gotten one review and several PMs "debating" the rating of this story with me because it lacks explicit sexual content. I don't consider any of my sex scenes graphic in any stories I've written (I write according to the "flow" of the story, sometimes it's fade to black - sometimes it's more detailed), so if that's the main reason you're following this story – I'm probably not the best author for you. When I rate a story, I take the content of the entire work into mind. This one does have multiple sex scenes, at least one character death, domestic violence, language, and "standard" violence. Combining those made it rated "M" in my head. I save my "teen" ratings for stories w/no graphic violence and only fade to black bedroom scenes.

Second – This story was planned out back in July. I believe my plot line is about to intersect the way the writers are telling their story. While I'm not intending to copy where at least one section of the show is going, I have changed character names just to keep is less confusing for my readers.

Ratings: Mature – violence, language, adult content, character death, Stefan, Bonnie

* * *

Elena closed the door with relief. After three hours of playing hostess while she could only focus on Dr. Shane's vaguely menacing words, she was more than ready for the evening to end. She'd been too nervous to even make an attempt at feeding, so now she was hungry, on edge, and annoyed – not a great combination for a new vampire.

Damon stood behind her, leaning casually against the wall. "So, let's go see what was so important that he had to sneak into a dinner party." He offered her his arm, and when she didn't take it, he reached for her arm and placed her hand atop his elbow.

Dr. Shane sat on the couch in the middle of the library, flanked by Jeremy on one side while Matt stood behind him. Caroline stood with her back to the fireplace, Tyler mirrored her posture on the left hand side. To say the mood in the room was tense was putting it mildly. A shiver ran down Elena's side as she and Damon entered the room. Damon placed a hand in the small of her back as they took their places just inside the doorway. "You've been wanting to meet me?" Elena prompted, staring at the middle-aged man.

"For a very long time." Dr. Shane made a move to stand but thought better of it when every other person in the room leaned in his direction. "Forgive me." He nodded and settled back in his seat. "I feel like I know you already."

"You've met Katherine." Elena decided to stop beating around the bush. A professor who specialized in the occult likely already knew about her unique lineage.

"Not personally." He sat back and studied the many faces around him. "I was a good friend of your mother."

"I'm pretty sure that Mom never mentioned you." Jeremy seemed ready to toss their uninvited guest out on his ear. His foot bounced with impatience across his knee.

Dr. Shane smiled and shook his head. "I'm certain that Miranda was a lovely person, but I'm speaking of Isobel." He cast a pointed look in Elena's direction, waiting for her to fully understand the weight of his words. "We were colleagues as well as confidents. I knew her secret, and she knew mine."

"You have a secret? Do tell." Damon took a menacing step in the professor's direction.

"All in due time." He grinned with the satisfaction that he knew something that they needed to know, then his face turned sad. "I'm sorry to see that Isobel's greatest fears have come true." Before he could be misunderstood, he continued on. "Perhaps I should explain myself." He flinched under the weight of Damon's glare.

"That would be a very good idea."

"I first met Isobel when she'd just arrived back on campus after a brief sabbatical. She'd had the reputation of being a brilliant teacher, but I found her distracted…preoccupied. She allowed her graduate student to lead all her classes while she locked herself away perusing aged texts. One day I entered her office to find her crying at her desk." His brown eyes fixed on Elena's face. "She was looking at a photograph of you." He shook his head. "It wasn't really you, of course. It might have just as easily have been, though. Taken on the streets of Atlanta in 1859, the woman in the picture looked almost exactly like the photograph of the teenaged cheerleader she kept on her desk." He shifted forward in his seat and grinned at Elena. "In my line of work, the concept of a doppleganger was spoken of in whispers…..but I knew what I saw in front of me."

He leaned up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Isobel was distraught. She'd never known her family's history – not until she met Jonathon Gilbert, and by the time he shared it with her, it was already too late. She was already pregnant with you – half Hunter, half Petrova – your fate was sealed the moment you were conceived. Now, if my suspicions are correct, the blood of the originals runs in your veins as well."

"What?" Matt scratched his head and looked around the room in confusion. "You lost me back on half-hunter."

"Perhaps this would be better if it were shared with a more…intimate gathering." Dr. Shane looked pointedly at Tyler.

"I trust everyone in this room." Elena crossed her arms in front of her to reinforce the idea that no one was leaving.

He nodded and gave a dismissive wave of his hands.

"There's a reason the witches have always kept such close track of certain bloodlines – the Petrovas for obvious reasons, the Hunters – represented today by the Gilbert family, those witches that you refer to as the Bennett line, and those descended from the Originals."

"But all the Originals were vampires. None of them had any children." Caroline turned to face the professor.

"Didn't they?" Dr. Shane seemed amused at the idea. "Not in this world, perhaps, but before they left the old country, Elijah most definitely had a child. Unfortunately, the mother was a peasant, and Mikael wasn't fond of her. When she died in childbirth, not uncommon at the time….and the child was given to a group of young women pledged to take in the orphans. They called themselves the Saviors. The last name changed a bit through the ages."

"Salvatore." For one of the first times since she'd met him, Damon appeared afraid.

"Exactly." Dr. Shane smiled widely. "And now that the three lines are unified in one….she's the key to unlocking Silas' tomb."

"Silas is just a legend." Damon shook his head but reached for Elena's hand at the same time.

"Is he?" Dr. Shane's lip turned up at the corner. "Most would say the same about dopplegangers, werewolves, vampires – almost everyone in this room to be exact."

"What can we do?" Damon's voice was hoarse with emotion.

"Nothing." Dr. Shane shook his head sadly. "Isobel never meant to condemn you to this. That's one reason she chose to turn – to try to protect you. I've been searching for you for years, hoping to find you in time. I never believed she'd hide you here of all places. The Hunters have already sensed her presence, even though they don't know what they're looking for. They'll figure it out soon enough."

"But why?" Jeremy stared at Elena rather than the man sitting next to him on the couch.

"Unlocking Silas' tomb will give them the ability to cure the world of its vampire problem." Dr. Shane's voice was solemn as his eyes travelled down Elena's arm and fixed on her fingers interlocked with Damon's.

Caroline cocked her head to the side and crinkled her forehead. "There's a cure?"

"Silas was so angry that his daughter Tatia was used to create the vampires in the first place that he used his special abilities to create a spell that would cure all the supernatural creatures in existence. " Dr. Shane let out a long breath. "Death."

* * *

"Well, that's one way to break up a party." Damon loaded the last of the plates in the dishwasher. He stared at Elena with concern. Even after finding two suitable snacks for her, the color hadn't returned to her cheeks from before the party started. She tried to look relaxed as she leaned an elbow on the marble countertop, but she was failing miserably. "You know he's probably nuts, right?"

"But he knew Isobel." Elena bit down on her lip as her knuckles whitened and gripped counter in front of her. She closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her free hand.

Damon looked around at the various trays of leftovers arrayed throughout the kitchen. "Why don't you go somewhere else?" He crossed the room and placed his hand on the back of hers that gripped the marble so tightly it was as if it were the only thing keeping her anchored to the ground.

Elena shook her head and stood stiffly. "No. I don't want to leave you with all this on your own." She nodded in the direction of the pots and pans.

Damon smirked. She still wasn't used to a vampire's full speed. "Go in on the couch. I'll be there in five minutes." He gave her a look that suggested he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Five minutes turned into ten. He'd forgotten that Caroline had insisted they use the real crystal glasses. He had to be careful with those. They were some of the only things that survived the original Salvatore house burning down during the hunt for Stefan.

He draped the damp dishtowel over the handle of the oven and slowly walked out of the kitchen, curious to discover what kept Elena so entranced that she hadn't noticed it had taken him twice as long as he'd estimated. He had to admit, that part of him was preoccupied with thoughts of Dr. Shane's story.

He'd heard of Silas before. Once, years ago, when he happened upon a group of centuries-old vampires travelling across the European countryside, one of them drunkenly started spouting off warnings that if they left a mess, Silas would come find them. The story seemed like something you'd tell disobedient children, so he hadn't given it a second thought…until tonight. When Dr. Shane stared at Elena, he couldn't ignore the sense of foreboding that crept into the room.

Everything else centered on her – why not one more ancient curse?

If hunters were being drawn to Mystic Falls, that would explain the dead werewolves and hybrids as well. It was just a matter of time before one of their friends met the wrong end of a hunter's stake. They'd have to do something to stop it before anyone else got hurt.

Especially the person now…sleeping in front of the fireplace. He'd expected to find her pacing, worrying, texting someone – not softly snoring while leaning her head against her favorite throw blanket. Dr. Shane's words were menacing, but right now he was just as anxious to find out why Elena still wasn't transitioning normally. He should never have been able to sneak up on her, and he definitely shouldn't have been able to scoop her into his arms and carry her upstairs to their bed.

Elena's eyes slowly drifted open as Damon lazily trailed a finger down her cheek. "I thought you were out for the night." He cupped his hand over her cheek and rubbed her jaw with his thumb.

"Sorry." She blinked in confusion. "How did I get here?"

"You were really out cold." He kissed her forehead. If he didn't know better, he'd swear that she was running a temperature. "Are you feeling alright?"

Elena nodded but didn't speak. Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes.

"Hey." He lifted the sheets and blankets and smoothed them on top of himself and Elena. Pulling her into his side, he held her tightly. "Don't let what that idiot said bother you."

"But you'd heard of Silas." Elena's lip trembled as she spoke.

Damon gave a grim nod. "I have, but it was a long time ago. Dr. Shane may have simply heard the same legend."

"Or he could be telling the truth…like the legend of the sun and the moon."

"That one didn't exactly do what the Originals said it did." Damon peeled the hem of Elena's blouse out from the waistband of her skirt. As he slid his hand over her bare skin, she slid closer against his side. Even when she wanted to be worried about something else, he knew exactly the right places to touch to get his desired response.

"You're trying to distract me." Elena only looked halfway annoyed as he nipped at her earlobe.

"Is it working?" Damon slid his hand lower and discovered he wasn't the only one who'd prepared a surprise for after the party. "No panties. Miss Gilbert, what's come over you?"

"You have." Elena was already working on removing his belt when he gripped her hand to still it.

"Patience." Damon rolled her onto her back and tugged her skirt over her hips. "You've had a hard night." The skirt hit the floor and was soon joined by its coordinating sweater. The plunging neckline had been teasing him all night, and he'd been counting the minutes until he could get it off. Now he stared down at her black lace bra. He made quick work of the front closure, and soon her breasts were free for his enjoyment. Elena reached for his shirt, and he sat up. Elena groaned at the loss of his lips' attention to her nipple. "Right now, this is about you." He gave her a lustful grin. "You had a nap. We have plenty of time."

"But…." Elena palmed his erection through his pants.

"You're not changing my mind that easily." He lowered himself back to the bed before she was successful in her attempt. With his mouth covering her breast, his hand drifted slowly over the rest of her skin, finally coming to rest at the juncture of her thighs.

He gently pushed her legs apart and slid his fingertips over her most sensitive skin. He loved the sound she made every time he gave attention to her most private area. She might have been bothered by Dr. Shane's words earlier, but it didn't take much effort for Damon to make her remember what they'd almost been doing before Caroline interrupted them so rudely.

Elena's back arced as her hips moved in time with his hand. "Damon." The intense look in her eyes caught his attention. "You have no idea how much I love you."

His fingers continued their gentle massage as her gaze burned into his. "Yes I do." Her body trembled beneath him, and he attacked her lips with his own. "Because it's how much I love you."

* * *

Yep, this story keeps on coming in threes...so I hope you'll excuse the brevity of this chapter. Three chapters in three days from me...not too shabby.

I'll be answering reviews tonight.

For my American friends - I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving.

For all my readers, y'all are truly one of the things I'm thankful for this year. Thanks so much for your continued support. I love hearing from all of you.

Thanks a million!

D'Ann


	9. Chapter 9

Author's note: We've hit Act III. (I write all my stories in three acts.) I think there are about 3 chapters left…maybe 4 – depends on when the next chapter break ends up falling.

Warnings: Mature - adult content, language, violence, Stefan, Bonnie, **my favorite trope** makes an appearance here

* * *

Elena's heels echoed on the tile floor as she walked through the mostly empty Grill. She caught sight of Matt, and he signaled that Jeremy was in the stockroom. She nodded her understanding before walking into the bar and leaning against one of the tallest tables. She absently dragged her fingernail over through the pattern carved in the wood. This is where she was standing when Damon first met Andie. That seemed like ages ago.

"Elena? Is everything okay?" Jeremy placed a box of salt and pepper shakers down on the table with a thud and glanced over her shoulder to make sure his manager was still on the phone. Thankfully, Peter never seemed to notice all the unusual occurrences that happened almost daily in his restaurant.

Jeremy's question snapped her back to the present. "No." Elena shook her head emphatically. "Things are definitely not okay." She took a breath before she let her well-deserved anger get away from her. "Would you like to explain to me why I've just spent the last 45 minutes discussing your 'lack of satisfactory progress' with Mrs. Morgan?"

"Old Lady Morgan? She's a joke – you know that. I seem to remember you using a few choice words to describe her to Mom." Jeremy didn't seem bothered in the slightest as he pulled out two salt shakers and ran a damp cloth over the glass.

"Having a zero on two of your projects due in her class isn't a joke, Jer."

"It's the same project. She just took two grades on it." Jeremy placed a pepper shaker in the center of the table next to them and motioned for Elena to move the lecture to follow him.

Elena rolled her eyes. "All the more reason for you to turn the paper in." She pinched the bridge of her nose between her index finger and thumb. "I had to talk with her for almost an hour. In her classroom. After they'd been dissecting…something." She leaned across the table and whispered conspiratorially. "Do you know how bad formaldehyde smells to a vampire?" She closed her eyes and swallowed thickly. She hadn't eaten anything today, but that didn't keep her stomach from rolling at the mere memory of the smell in the science lab. If Mrs. Morgan ever needed to conference with her again, she was going to have to compel her to think she'd met with the teacher. Elena couldn't handle extended time in that classroom again.

"Sorry." He cringed.

"I just. I just don't want to lose you."

Jeremy's eyes widened in confusion. "Now you really have lost me."

Elena leaned against her hand, leaving her eyes closed. She shook her head slowly before opening her eyes to meet her brother's concerned expression. "Mrs. Morgan apparently has friends in the county child services department. She hinted that since Alaric's gone…I might not be the most suitable guardian." She cringed. "I don't want to have to send you to Aunt Myrtle's, but I can't help but think she might have a point."

"No." Jeremy shook his head insistently. "That summer back in fourth grade was enough." He placed the box of condiments on the tabletop of the booth next to them before sliding on the bench. After Elena followed him, he leaned across and whispered to her. "Listen. I'll work harder. I promise. I've been spending most of my nights reading Jonathon's journals. I thought he might have a clue about Silas….or why you're not like other vampires."

"And?" Elena asked, trying hard to keep any hope from her voice.

Jeremy frowned. "Sorry." He shrugged his shoulders and glanced up at Peter who was standing fewer than 4 tables from them. "That's why I hadn't said anything before. I couldn't find anything. Not about Silas. Nothing about what happens when the Gilbert and Petrova bloodlines converge."

"Hey Gilbert." Peter crossed his arms and glared at the pair. "Do you think I'm paying you to gab with your sister?"

"No. Sorry Peter." Jeremy stood abruptly and picked up the box of supplies. "Won't happen again."

"Let's make sure of that." Peter nodded and turned away from Jeremy and Elena.

"Sorry." Elena couldn't even force a smile. Her day had gone from not great to bad to worse. "I'll let you get back to your job, but…"

"I'll do my homework." Jeremy gave her an encouraging smile.

Elena grabbed her purse from the floor and slid the leather strap onto her shoulder. She waved goodbye to Jeremy and made her way to the front of the restaurant.

Matt caught up with her just before she placed her hand on the door. "Hey, Elena." He ducked his head and lowered his voice. "You okay?" The tone of his voice made it clear that he wasn't just making conversation. "I mean, do you need anything?" He fingered his collar and raised his eyebrows to reinforce his question.

Elena paused and then realized what he was asking. "I'm fine, Matt."

"You sure? I mean. You haven't come to visit in a couple of days. Jeremy said he hadn't seen you since Wednesday, at least not at school if you know what I mean."

Elena gripped the strap of her purse tightly. "What? Do y'all seriously discuss whose turn it is?"

"Elena. You rolled a car because you weren't eating enough." He mumbled under his breath. "We just don't want it to happen again."

"I'm fine, Matt. Really." She successfully forced a smile. Matt knew her too well. He wasn't convinced. She tried harder. "The parade's tonight. I'll find someone visiting from out of town. I'm getting the hang of it." Elena reached out and squeezed his hand. "I promise. I'm not trying to starve myself."

"Alright." He didn't look convinced. "But if you have trouble…"

"You'll be the first person I come find. Thank you." Peter was approaching from behind Matt. Elena bowed out the door before she was thrown out for distracting his employees.

_Damn it! _Elena shivered as the force of the northerly wind blew through her light jacket. She hadn't even thought about feeding for the last two days. She'd been so on edge, blood just didn't sound very appealing. Now that Matt mentioned it, though, her stomach rumbled and she could hardly concentrate on much else.

Her fingers began to tremble as the excitement from the gathering crowd reached her. She was supposed to be at Caroline's house ten minutes ago. The blonde vampire had her outfit already picked out for the Miss Mystic Falls court float, and she'd warned Elena to allow plenty of time to change. Caroline was going to be angry if Elena arrived much later, but she couldn't risk riding on a float in this condition. She might have only been a vampire for six weeks, but she'd learned how to recognize the warning signs when she was dangerously close to losing control.

This moment qualified.

"Excuse me, miss." A middle-aged man pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose as he scurried up the sidewalk. His Boy Scout leader's uniform couldn't have been providing him any more protection from the cold than her jacket. Why wasn't a Boy Scout leader better prepared?

Right now, it didn't matter. "Can I help you?" She pivoted to steer him in the direction of the empty stairwell running alongside the Grill.

"If the boys in my troop could see me now, I'd never live this down." He ran his fingers nervously through his short-cropped red hair. He held his cell phone out to her and she took two steps, backing him toward the alleyway. "I can't seem to find the staging area for the parade."

Elena giggled to set him at ease. "The square can be kind of confusing." She reached out and took hold of the phone, turning it so she could see the map. As soon as they'd cleared the opening leading to the street, she stepped alongside him and pointed at the phone. And then she locked eyes with him. "You're not going to scream."

"That's actually my line."

An explosion of pain seared through her side and explosions of light danced in front of her eyes before everything went completely dark. Her knees struck the pavement as the world around her went silent.

* * *

"Finally!" Jeremy sighed in relief as Elena peered through her barely cracked eyelids. Judging from the squeaking couch beneath her, she was no longer in the alley, but she also wasn't at the boardinghouse.

Elena sat up slowly as the room continued to spin around her. "What….happened?" She blinked and wrinkled her nose at the vaguely metallic taste lingering in her mouth. "Why am I at Caroline's house?"

"It was closest." Jeremy answered the second question first. He rocked back on his heels and knelt next to the couch. "As for your first question, did you really fall for the 'I need directions' fake-out? They teach you about that one in elementary school, Elena."

Her memories gradually filtered through the haze blanketing her mind. "I was actually hoping to catch him." Her cheeks flushed pink. "I was hungry."

Jeremy looked at the floor and shook his head. "You're lucky you forgot your phone. I saw it on the table, and I was chasing you down." He nodded to the telephone on the table. "I saw you just as you disappeared around the corner. I'd talked with Matt. I knew you might be…snacking." Elena noticed for the first time that Jeremy's hands were shaking. "I got there just as he hefted you onto his shoulder. Elena, if I hadn't been there…." He let his words trail off, not wanting to complete his thought.

"Does Damon know?" Elena cringed at the thought of what he'd say if he'd heard how close she'd come to getting caught. She'd promised him that she'd be careful, and she'd barely succeeded in convincing all her friends that she didn't need a babysitter when simply walking around town. She could only imagine his response when he heard about the Boy Scout leader.

Jeremy nodded stiffly. "He's who's taking care of the – issue." For the first time, Elena noticed the blood spattered all over Jeremy's clothes. She must have made a face. "He knew who you were. _What _you were. I didn't have a choice."

Elena fought back tears as she studied her brother's face. He'd killed to save her. Again.

"Jeremy, I'm so sorry." Elena stared into his troubled brown eyes, disturbed at the hardness she saw there. He'd seen too much…experienced too much darkness in his life. God, he was just 16. He deserved a normal life. All of them did. Well, maybe Elena didn't. She was born to be the center of all this turmoil.

Bonnie quietly approached from the kitchen and placed her hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "You can get back to work. We've got this. Caroline's on her way back too."

"You sure?" Jeremy looked up in mild surprise.

"Trust me. No one's getting through that door who isn't supposed to be here." Bonnie squeezed Jeremy's shoulder and waited for him to stand.

"I probably should go. Damon compelled Peter to think that I'm out running deliveries, but now that the parade's over – "

"Go." Elena nodded encouragingly. "I'll be fine." Jeremy slowly stood. Thankfully, he didn't say anything about the fact that she hadn't made an effort to stand. The room was still spinning slowly. She had a new appreciation for Stefan and Damon's efforts to build a tolerance for vervain.

The door closed with a click, and Bonnie came back into the room. "How are you really feeling?" Bonnie wasn't looking at her like Mystic Falls' resident witch, she studied her with the tenderness of a concerned best friend.

"Like hell, actually." Elena gave sitting up a second attempt and wished that she hadn't. Her ears started to ring, and her stomach lurched in disapproval.

Bonnie took a seat on the couch next to her. "How long has it been since you fed?"

Elena bit down on her lip – well aware that her answer was going to be met with disapproval. "Three days."

"Three days?" Bonnie shot to her feet in anger. "Elena. We've talked about this."

"I know. I know." Elena took hold of Bonnie's arm and tugged her back down on the couch. "But I hate always having to use Matt and Jeremy like that, and I haven't found anyone new in town – until tonight."

"And we all see how well that went down." Bonnie rolled her eyes and pulled her legs up on the couch. She stared at Elena for several minutes before finally arriving at some apparently difficult decision. Her fingers looped around the cuff of her blouse, and she extended her arm to Elena. "Here."

It took Elena a moment to realize what Bonnie intended. "What?" Elena shifted back on the couch, trying to ignore the blue lines running just beneath the surface of Bonnie's dark skin. "No. I can't."

"Elena." Bonnie's voice was even and calm. "A hunter was looking for you tonight. We can't risk grabbing someone random. So, unless you want me to call Matt or Jeremy…." She stared pointedly at her wrist.

Elena still hesitated. She wasn't just a little hungry. She was starving. Even now, looking at the barely-pulsing vein in Bonnie's wrist, she was fighting to stay in control. "Maybe we should wait for –" The door opened again, and the sound of jingle bells proceeded Caroline's entrance into the room.

"What are you waiting on?" Caroline removed a jingle-bell necklace and dropped onto the couch alongside Elena. She rolled her eyes at Bonnie and Elena's questioning expressions. "I got stuck on elf-duty after the parade. Apparently a stomach bug is going around the middle school. I ran into Jeremy while he was passing out hot chocolate. You feeling better?"

Elena nodded but her sign of agreement was interrupted by Bonnie's words. "We were just discussing the fact that she hasn't fed in three days."

"Elena!" Caroline chided.

"I know." Elena really didn't want to get the lecture a third time today. "Matt and Bonnie have already yelled at me. I don't need another one from you." Elena leaned her elbows on her knees and rubbed her temples. She hadn't realized just how badly her head was hurting. "Is the headache still from the vervain?"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry." Caroline scooted next to Elena on the couch. "You probably don't need us in lecture-mode right now." She wrapped her arm around Elena's shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. "But you do probably need to eat. It'll help you get your strength back."

"That's – what we were talking about when you walked in." Bonnie looked down at her sleeve pulled up above her elbow.

"Ahh." Caroline nodded. "So that's why you were saying you might need to wait, but Bonnie can always stop you with a headache."

"Not sure if I could handle one worse than what I already have." Elena closed her eyes and wished that aspirin worked on vampires.

Someone tapped on Elena's knee. "Elena." Bonnie frowned. "Come on, you'll feel better." She looked away from Elena as if she were preparing to get blood drawn in a doctor's office.

Elena glanced hesitantly in Caroline's direction before she let her vampire nature come to the surface. She barely allowed her fangs to pierce the skin of Bonnie's wrist, and the blood slowly trickled into her mouth. She swallowed two mouthfuls gratefully until –

"Elena?" Caroline jumped up in surprise as Elena bolted from the room and made a mad dash for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before the meager contents of her stomach revisited her. "Elena!" Caroline couldn't have sounded more surprised if her father had walked through the front door.

Elena sat back on her heels and wiped her face with a handful of toilet paper. "Sorry. I guess witch is off the menu too."

"That does it." Bonnie spoke from the doorway of the small bathroom. "We can't wait for Lucy any longer. I'm going to see if I can contact Grams."

"Is that a good idea?" Elena turned and looked up at Bonnie from her position on the floor of the bathroom.

"Something's not right. Damon bit me without any problems. We have to know what's going on."

"Time to break out the candles." Caroline sped into the kitchen. "Probably want to wrap this up before my mom gets home from crowd patrol."

* * *

The girls sat on the floor, forming an all-too-familiar triangle. Lit candles formed a circle in the middle of the open space between them. Caroline and Elena sat waiting. Bonnie had been softly murmuring to herself for the better part of twenty minutes.

"Think she's okay?" Caroline spoke in a stage whisper.

"No nosebleed. That has to be a good sign." Elena studied her friend's face with growing alarm. With each passing minute, the crease between her eyebrows grew deeper and Bonnie seemed more troubled.

But all Caroline and Elena could do was wait.

"No." Bonnie was arguing with whomever she'd contacted. "You can't." Bonnie shook her head and raised her voice. "She's…."

The random words and fragments of sentences just made Elena more alarmed. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she looked down just in time to see a message from Damon. Two more bodies had been discovered on the edge of town. He'd be by later to pick her up. She quickly keyed in an answer. The more time the better. He didn't need to watch this.

"But Grams…" Bonnie reached out as if she were trying to take hold of someone's hand. "It's already done. I understand." Bonnie woke from her trance and didn't quite meet Elena's eyes.

"So?" Caroline spoke when Elena couldn't form the words.

"Grams found one of the witches involved in the original doppleganger spell."

"And?" Caroline barely let Bonnie take a breath.

"Maybe we should go sit on the couch."

* * *

"Witches are really careful with their spell work, especially for the important spells." Bonnie fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. "Every spell always has a way to undo it."

"Right." Elena nodded. "Like with the tomb and the Gilbert device."

Bonnie nodded wordlessly. "Vampires were created with the blood of the original Petrova." She glanced at Elena for confirmation. "In order to undo the spell that created vampires, a witch would need the blood of a Petrova."

"Right." Elena had been down this road before. She might as well have been born with a birthmark shaped like an X on her back – all spells lead to here.

"You're the last Petrova."

"I know. Isobel told me." Elena shifted in discomfort in her seat, not liking the direction this conversation was going.

"The witches…." Bonnie looked between Caroline and Elena. "They're really protective of their spell work. The witch who created the dopplegangers, she was one of the most powerful witches in history."

"And?" Elena didn't understand how this was related to the fact that now she was even having trouble swallowing blood fresh from the vein.

Bonnie stared at Elena without blinking. "She won't let the Petrova line end."

"But Elena died in the wreck. No more Petrovas." Caroline glared at Bonnie.

"She did, but she hasn't fully transitioned – which is why her diet is so limited. She's still a little human...and mostly vampire."

"We kind of guessed that." Elena felt like the conversation was going in circles. They were no closer to knowing the answer to what was wrong with her than before – even if they now knew why.

A troubled silence blanketed the room. Bonnie seemed more ill-at-ease than Elena had ever seen her.

"So will she ever transition or is she just stuck?" Once again, Caroline voiced the question that Elena couldn't.

Bonnie bit down on the inside of her cheek and frowned. "The Petrova line has to continue. Once it does, she'll be able to complete the transition." She spoke in memorized monotone. "That's all they said."

"It has to continue? But Elena's the last…." Caroline repeated, her eyes growing wide. She shot to her feet and ran up the stairs. Rumbles and clanks from overhead hinted that she was digging through her bathroom cabinets. "Elena, can you come here for a minute?" Caroline beckoned from the top of the stairs.

Elena slowly stood to her feet. Whatever Caroline needed her to do upstairs couldn't make the day any weirder. She'd had to have a parent-teacher conference, she'd been vervained, and her brother killed someone. Now she'd just learned that the witches had cursed her to this life of kind-of-vampire existence. She continued up the stairs, and the uncertain expression on Caroline's face made her strongly question her earlier thoughts. Maybe the day _could _get worse.

"Elena. I think you might need to do something." Caroline kept one hand behind her back.

"If it involves eating slugs or making a deal with a witch, the answer is no."

"Nothing like that." Caroline pulled a white metallic object from her pocket.

Elena stepped backwards and almost fell down the stairs. "No."

Caroline caught hold of Elena's wrist. "For a vampire, your reflexes suck."

Drawn by the conversation, Bonnie followed Elena up the stairs. She noticed what Caroline had in her hand. "It makes sense." She nodded in agreement. "But why do you have – "

Caroline placed the pregnancy test in Elena's hand. "Matt and I had a little scare once. It was a long time ago." She looked Elena in the eye and pointed to the bathroom.

"Caroline, vampire's can't…."

"Trust me. I know that." Caroline chuckled to herself. "But name one rule that doesn't have a witchy loophole. You're normally the loophole. Go pee on the stick, Elena, or I'll figure out a way to make you."

Elena rolled her eyes and faked bravery that she didn't feel. "This is insane." Caroline's answer was a soft shove between Elena's shoulder blades.

* * *

"This isn't Forks. Bella and Edward don't live here." Elena sat on the couch and tried to stop the trembling threatening to overtake her entire body.

"No, this is Mystic Falls where we constantly live an existence a hell of a lot more insane than anything _Twilight _could have dreamed up. Here." Caroline pressed a mug into Elena's hand. "It's peppermint. Maybe it'll help your stomach."

Bonnie hadn't met Elena's eyes since she'd stepped out of the bathroom. Elena's face had been so white the other girls hadn't needed to ask what the result was, but she showed the results to Caroline just to verify that she wasn't dreaming.

Of course, the last few minutes would quite likely fall under the category of nightmare….maybe.

Bonnie and Caroline watched as Elena took a tentative sip. Minty. Sweet. Warm. And surprisingly non-nausea-inducing. She took a longer drink. Memories of when she was little and her mother made too-sweet tea when she had a cold washed over her, and uninvited tears filled her eyes. "It's good." She took a shaky breath. "Really." Simply finding something that didn't send her speeding for the bathroom was worth the embarrassment of having two friends standing just outside the closed door listening to her take the test.

"My mom said it cures anything. I guess morning sickness counts." Caroline laughed from the kitchen.

"Damon." Bonnie looked up in surprise.

"I knocked. I guess y'all were….occupied." Damon's jaw muscles were clenched as he stood frozen behind the recliner. Shock, surprise, sadness, and finally betrayal washed over his face. He stared at Elena for an instant before turning on his heel and walking from the house.


	10. Chapter 10

Original Author's note: So glad the last chapter was met with such positive response. Since I knew the cliffhanger was kind of evil…I've tried to update quickly.

Warnings: Mature – adult content, character death, Stefan, Bonnie, language, violence, REALLY REALLY SICKLY SWEET DIALOGUE

New Author's note: Thank you to those who've been understanding when I pulled this chapter off the website yesterday. I was hit with an unusual number of really negative reviews (via messaging) for this chapter as well as several critical reviews of earlier chapters of this story all in one day.

I've continued to get criticism for my love scenes not being "hot" enough. I've never been a writer who pushes the envelope content-wise. My mature rating gives me the ability to fully explore the entirety of the story – from Stefan's abuse of Elena to Damon and Elena's love scenes to some pretty intense stuff I have planned for later chapters (if the story ends up being expanded). My mature rating covers the full story and it isn't simply for the adult content the story might contain.

Thanks again to those of y'all who've sent messages of support.

Yes, if you read this yesterday, I'd recommend reading it again.

* * *

"Damon?" Elena charged through the front door, arriving on the porch before Damon had a chance to leave. The clouds that had threatened impending rain all night finally decided to unleash their fury just in time for the expected cold front arrived. The result was a mixture of sleet and rain that attacked her the minute she stepped to the edge of the porch.

But it didn't seem to be affecting Damon. He stood frozen with his hand on the roof of his car. With the full moon peeking through the sliver in the clouds overhead, Damon was standing so still he could easily have been mistaken for a statue. Sleet piled on his shoulder in vivid contrast to the black jacket he wore. "Damon?" The anger rippling off him confused Elena so badly she didn't risk stepping from the porch. "Please look at me. Damon?" She saw the look of betrayal in his eyes before he left, but she didn't understand it.

If she hadn't been a vampire, she would have missed the slight shake of his head. "I guess we'll need to give my little brother a call." Damon's voice was steely and devoid of emotion. His fingers flexed ever so slightly on the rooftop of his car, leaving a faint trail through the sleet just beginning to fall.

"What?"

"You know the rules. Vampires can't procreate, Elena." Damon gave a mirthless laugh, still not turning to face her. "But I guess the witches made an exception in my brother's case."

Elena sped down the stairs, slipping and landing on the ground with a thud. She hopped back to her feet and brushed mud and ice off the seat of her pants. She carefully picked her way over the slick sidewalk and stood off to the side of the car, not ready to approach Damon. "Is that what you think?"

"It's better than the alternative."

"Alternative?"

"Do you want me to start wondering who you slept with while you were confessing your undying love for my brother? Is that why you were so quick to protect Matt?"

Elena's heart skipped a beat. She was still processing the news she's just received from a little white stick in the Forbes' bathroom….and now this? "You think? I would – with Matt?" She couldn't move past Damon's insinuation. "Damon." Despite her most valiant attempts, Elena's voice broke as she said his name. "I never…." She squeezed her hands into fists at her sides, fighting for control she didn't currently possess. "I can't believe that you of all people…" Her breathing hitched in her chest. She shook her head, fighting back tears. She refused to cry in front of him – not right now. "I wasn't pregnant when I turned, Damon."

Something in her words must have signaled it was time for him to leave. Still not turning to look at her, Damon slid into the driver's seat of the car and slammed the door. He peeled away from the Forbes' house, leaving Elena alone on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Elena?" Caroline's voice called out hesitantly from behind her. She and Bonnie must have been watching from the window. And Caroline wouldn't have been able to keep herself from overhearing the confrontation occurring in her own front yard. Footsteps creaked on the wooden front porch. Elena waved for whomever it was to stop.

"I can't." She held up a hand. "Not right now." She turned and started walking away from her friends. She couldn't face them – not after everything that had happened in the last hour.

Caroline ignored her. "Come back inside."

"I need to be by myself right now." Elena's tears blended with the rain striking her cheek.

"At least let me drive you home."

Elena forced her tears to stop. She let out a hollow laugh. "What am I going to do, catch a cold?" She removed Caroline's hand from her shoulder and continued walking down the sidewalk.

At first, Elena wasn't certain where she was going, but the icy pellets striking against her thin sweater quickly convinced her that fleeing Caroline's house without retrieving her jacket wasn't the best idea. By the time she realized where her feet were taking her, she was standing on her own front porch. She hadn't been here in days – honestly, she'd probably last visited her house weeks ago.

The windows were dark, and the house was quiet. Not even the porch lights were lit. Jeremy probably forgot to leave them on when he left for school that morning. Typical.

She tipped up the planter to the right of the door and retrieved the key her father always hid there. A few things hadn't changed.

Placing the key in the lock, she let herself inside. She was surprised to see how foreign it felt to be home. Home. Did she really have a home any longer? Her boots echoed on the hardwood floors, signaling how empty the house was.

Cold.

Dark.

Elena had never felt so very much alone.

She reached out and turned on one of the lamps on the entryway table. Slowly, she pivoted and looked around. The house looked just as it did the last time she'd visited. At least Jeremy was doing a good job keeping the house clean – unless Damon was dropping by during the day.

Damon.

She wouldn't think about him right now. She couldn't.

She ran up the stairs and closed the door behind her. Standing in front of her full-length mirror, Elena slid one hand over her still perfectly flat stomach and covered her mouth with her other. Only then did she let her tears begin to fall.

The door to Elena's room opened with a creak. Light cascaded across her bed, and she shot to her feet – speeding into the far corner of the room. Her hair was damp from sleeping on her wet pillow. Her bloodshot eyes burned as she blinked to adjust to the sudden brightness.

* * *

"Elena! Damn it, I almost killed you." Jeremy leaned against the door frame and sighed in a mixture of relief and horror.

Elena leaned over with her hands on her knees, still gasping for breath at being awakened from her fitful sleep. She chanced a look up at her brother. "You're holding a knife, Jer. If that had been a stake…"

He tilted his head to the side and gave her his patented annoyed-brother glare. "You know what I meant." He paused and stared at her. "Why are you here?"

And the memories of the night came flooding back to her. Elena shook her head and clenched her teeth together, not trusting herself to speak.

"Um. Hey. Uh, I brought Matt home to watch a movie and have some pizza tonight. Let me go get rid of him." Jeremy definitely looked like a fish out of water. He might have been able to chop off a hybrid's head without blinking, but dealing with an older vampire sister having an emotional breakdown in front of his eyes was a little more than he was prepared to handle.

"No. I'm fine." Elena shook her head and retreated back to her bed, pulling the blankets up over her knees to hide the fact that she was still fully dressed. "I'm glad you invited Matt over. You deserve to have some fun." She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top. In many ways, Jeremy and Matt were the same now – both teenagers practically raising themselves. She was pleased that they were becoming better friends. Matt was a good friend.

"Now I know you're lying." Jeremy flicked on the lamp on top of the dresser and tried not to make a face. Elena must look worse than she'd thought. To his credit, he kept talking. "I'm fine never really means I'm fine with you." Before Elena could answer, Jeremy squinted and looked just over her shoulder. "Ric wants to know if you want him to stake Damon for you." He paused. "Apparently he's been practicing."

"Stake….Damon?"

"Not to kill him, just where it would hurt – a lot." Jeremy flinched at whatever Ric must have signaled.

Elena turned in the direction Jeremy was speaking. "Ric's here?"

Jeremy nodded. "He's normally around."

Elena reached for her teddy bear, who appeared to be currently trapped between the pillow and the headboard. She squeezed the toy against her chest and toyed with his frayed ribbon around his neck. "Was he with me at Caroline's house tonight?"

A look of sadness crossed Jeremy's face. He must have been mirroring Alaric. "Yeah. He was." Jeremy walked slowly toward the bed and took a seat at the foot. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Elena shook her head and turned back where she thought Ric must be standing. "I'm not ready to talk – yet."

"You sure?" Jeremy looked absently around Elena's room. Someone had cleaned up the glass, but the nightstand was still missing, and the Elena-shaped depression in the wall remained.

"I'm sure." Elena nodded. When she realized Jeremy wasn't leaving, a thought occurred to her. "The Christmas tree isn't up."

Jeremy cringed. "I really didn't feel like putting one up for myself."

Elena took a deep breath. "We'll do it tomorrow."

"Does that mean you're staying here for a while."

Elena forced a smile. Pretending to be stronger than she felt, she answered. "Yeah. I'm back, if you don't mind."

"No." The troubled look on Jeremy's face deepened in intensity. "I just don't understand. What happened between you and..." His brown eyes flashed to the side of Elena's bed. He gave a slight nod of his head. "But you probably want to be alone right now." He stood and backed away.

* * *

Damon raised two fingers in the direction of the bartender. The Mystic Grill was almost empty. Matt stood in the far corner of the bar, picking the last of the ketchup bottles off the tables. Tonight, only a handful of people even walked through the restaurant's doors. Of course, tonight most people had better places to be.

"Buddy, it's Christmas Eve, don't you have somewhere better to be?" The young man leaned over the bar as he refilled the two tumblers.

Damon scowled. "Not tonight."

"Why don't you go on home so the rest of us can leave?" Damon squinted to read the bartender's name tag - Craig. If he kept mouthing off, Damon might have to reconsider his current stance on only feeding on blood bags.

Damon flashed a dangerous grin. "I'll leave a big tip."

"That's what Peter said when he told me I had to stay open till midnight." Craig screwed the lid back onto the bottle and shook his head.

Damon rolled his eyes and fought back the urge to train Craig right where he stood, but that wasn't him – not anymore…hell, he didn't even know if it could be. Somewhere along the way, Tin Man found his heart, and right now it was breaking – and he didn't know why.

"You finished with that?" Matt stood next to him with a mostly-empty black bin at his side. The dishes from the other diners in the Grill that night didn't even cover the bottom of the bin.

Damon took a last swallow from his cup. "Now I am." He placed it on top of the plate and waited for Matt to move along, but the bus boy stayed where he stood. "You need something?" Matt stiffened and shook his head. "Then why are you still standing here?"

Matt gave him a condescending look. "Have you seen Elena lately?"

That was the last question Damon expected. "No." Matt was lucky Damon's temper had been mildly influenced by the copious amount of alcohol he'd consumed that night, otherwise Matt would find himself sprawled on the ground right now – if not worse.

"I didn't think so." Matt clicked his tongue like a scolding Sunday school teacher.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Damon couldn't believe he was about to sit here and get a lecture from an 18 year old who had trouble remembering to pay his heating bill.

"Did you know she's sick?" Matt paused for emphasis. "Pneumonia or something like that. Jeremy was so worried yesterday that he talked Dr. Fell into making a house call."

"Elena can't get sick." Damon spoke in a subdued stage whisper.

"Apparently she can." Matt narrowed his eyes and looked over Damon's shoulder at Craig locking the front door. "I guess she's an exception to all the rules." Matt swallowed and stared down Damon. "Caroline's not good at keeping secrets. You need to know one thing. She would never…."

"Hey, Donovan, mop up the entryway and then get out of here. You've been here long enough."

"I'll be right there, Craig." Matt stepped back, away from Damon. "Elena wouldn't lie about something like that." Matt walked toward the entryway and grabbed a mop. From the effort he put behind each movement, it was clear he was pretending the pole was a stake he was driving through Damon's chest.

Or maybe Damon was just projecting.

Matt knew Elena was pregnant. And she was sick. How did she manage that? But then he remembered that night almost two weeks ago – the last time he'd seen her. He saw her expression reflected in the rearview mirror while the sleet and wind whirled around her.

"One for your imaginary friend?" Craig paused as he polished the bottle.

"Sure." Damon nodded in the direction of the glass at the empty seat next to him. "Cheers." Damon tapped the glass in mock salute.

And the glass on the counter moved.

"What the – " Damon stared down at the tumbler, thinking that maybe Craig had been right. Maybe he really had pushed himself too far this time. But he hadn't even polished off half the bottle….

As he watched, the amber liquid swished side to side in the glass. After it had Damon's complete attention, the glass shot off the countertop and landed with a splash in Damon's lap. He shot to his feet, and the glass shattered on the ground. "Ric? What was that for?"

But, even without his friend sitting at his side, he knew. Alaric had been at the Forbes' house that night…he must have. And now Damon realized he'd done it again. Act first. Think later.

He hadn't needed to see Elena's face to know how much he'd hurt her.

"_I wasn't pregnant when I turned, Damon."_

Only now did the meaning of her words sink in. Blame it on the blind rage. Blame it on the jealousy of all the time his brother had with her. Blame it on himself.

Vampires couldn't procreate, but Elena had always been an exception to the rules. And he'd made a very big mistake.

"Thanks, Buddy." Damon nodded to the empty seat next to him.

* * *

Elena stirred in bed. She rolled onto her side and shivered. She'd knocked off her blankets during the night. Reaching down to her waist, she took hold of the blankets – and someone else lifted them to her shoulder.

"I didn't mean to scare you." As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the sincerity in his face. He smoothed the covers in place and pulled his hand away as if he'd stuck in in a fire. "God, you're burning up!"

Elena turned her face away from him and coughed into her fist. She still blinked at him in confusion while another shiver coursed through her body. "Cold…"

"Come here." Damon pulled her next to him and stroked her cheek. She clung to his chest like he was an oversized stuffed animal. "How long have you been like this?" Elena only answered with another shiver. "Do you even know what I'm saying right now?" Her eyes glazed over with fever, she didn't answer. "You probably don't even know I'm really here." He kissed her forehead and laced his fingers with hers. Damon slid under the blanket next to her, and she didn't protest. Instead, she curled more tightly against him. "We're going to get through this together. Just like we always do. You're going to be okay." He looked down, but her eyes had already closed.

* * *

"Merry Christmas!"

Elena struggled to open her eyes as an oddly familiar voice called into the room. She was dreaming – or seeing things again. Last night she'd dreamt…. Well, that didn't matter. A hand reached out and helped her sit up as she continued to try to focus on the person in the room. It looked like –

"Come on, you can't sleep all day. It's Christmas." The bed bounced as someone settled on the bed next to her. "And I've been working all morning in the kitchen."

"Damon?" Elena's voice was so hoarse she hardly recognized it.

"I fixed you some chicken soup." The emotion in his eyes contradicted the forced lightness in his voice. "I even found your mom's recipe." He placed a tray on the bedspread and pushed the bowl closer to her.

Trying to avoid thinking about how horrible she must look, she picked up a spoon and held it in front of her. She didn't think she could handle a mad dash to the bathroom right now, and her stomach was already churning. She'd given up trying to feed from Matt or Jeremy almost a week ago.

"Caroline said you could drink tea. At least give it a try." He nodded in encouragement.

She filled the bowl of the spoon halfway, and she felt his eyes studying every minute detail of her movements. Knowing she was going to regret this in a few minutes, she placed the spoon to her lips and swallowed. It was good. Better than her mother's, but she'd never tell that to the vampire sitting next to her. Since she was able to swallow it, she took a second tentative spoonful.

"And?"

Always fishing for compliments. She fought back her biting reply when she saw the true look of concern in his eyes. "It's good. Thank you." A fraction of the tension left his shoulders. "You just said it's Christmas. Jeremy…"

"Just finished a Christmas feast himself. Matt's downstairs too. They seemed to enjoy the beef tenderloin." For the first time, she noticed the smudge of flour on Damon's cheek and the splatter of something on the sleeve of his shirt. "I thought we'd start you off slow, though." He tapped the tray, signaling her to eat.

Elena made it through half the bowl before she knew she couldn't eat any more. She pushed the tray away.

"A little more?" Damon raised an eyebrow in her direction.

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

He picked the tray up and carried it to the dresser before coming back to sit at her side.

"Thank you for the soup and taking care of Jeremy." She pulled her tangled hair onto one shoulder and stared at him. "But what are you doing here?" She looked at him in confusion.

"I was wrong." His eyes swam like pools of blue gold.

Elena hesitated. Maybe she was still dreaming after all. "You never apologize."

"Matt talked to me, and another friend of mine convinced me I've been a jerk." Damon fluffed Elena's pillow and smoothed the sheets.

"Ric."

Damon nodded.

"He didn't….stake you….did he?" Elena studied Damon for any sign of injuries.

The corner of Damon's lip turned up in a barely visible grin. "No, but he got his point across." He scooted closer to her and leaned against the headboard, ignoring the rattling cough coming from Elena's chest. "Come here." He half-lifted her while he settled her back against his chest.

He tucked the blankets back over her just the way she liked them, and she had a hard time remembering she was still angry at him. "I'm not an invalid."

"No. You're not." He ran his hand down her arm until it came to rest on her stomach.

"Damon –"

He kissed the crown of her head. "I know. Not right now. You need to get better first. After all, you're carrying some pretty precious cargo." He slid his hand lower, waiting for any sign of resistance. He reached beneath her short nightgown and placed his palm just above the lace waist of her panties. "It's my baby, isn't it? That's why you were so upset?"

Elena sniffed and nodded. "I don't know why you thought it was anyone else's."

"Because I was wrong." Damon pulled her tighter against him, still keeping his hand in place. "I'm sorry. I wasn't here when you needed me, but I'm here now." He ran his fingers lightly through her hair, and Elena struggled to keep her eyes open. "It's okay. Go back to sleep. I'm not going anywhere."


	11. Chapter 11

Author's note: Thanks for being so understanding about the issues with chapter 10. For those of y'all who read the first incarnation and didn't realize it was reloaded, I'd say that reading the new version would probably be a good idea.

I think this will be a fairly short chapter, but it's one of those that kind of needs to happen.

Warnings: Mature – violence, language, character death, Bonnie, Stefan, morning sickness (y'all, I've never written a story with more vomiting in my life – sorry), adult content

* * *

The ancient book closed with a thud and cloud of dust. Bonnie waved her hand in front of her face and coughed. "Sorry, Elena. This was the last one."

"No problem. I didn't think we'd find anything." Elena nibbled on the corner of a graham cracker.

Bonnie traced her finger along the spine of the grimoire. "I think there used to be something – maybe." She picked up the book and placed it behind her. "It looked like a few pages had been torn out of the front of the book."

"Of course they were." Elena sipped at her mug of ginger tea. Before noon, her diet was primarily limited to tea and crackers. After noon, it was whatever she was in the mood to revisit later in the bathroom. Her government and French teachers just waved her out of the room without Elena having to wait to ask permission. She strongly suspected Caroline had something to do with that, but she really hadn't wanted to ask.

"I guess someone didn't want anyone to find out about Silas." Bonnie looked up as Jeremy entered the boardinghouse kitchen. Jeremy reached out and picked up a handful of grapes from the bowl in the center of the table.

"Because why make it easy on us..." Elena clenched her jaw and squeezed one hand into a tight fist.

Bonnie ran her finger around the edge of her coffee mug and glanced at Elena's untouched chocolate pound cake. "Elena, I know you don't really want a – snack, but shouldn't you eat something? You've eaten like a centimeter of that cracker."

Elena's hand began tremble as her jaw clenched even tighter. She shook her head without a word. The more she fought against the building anger, the faster the tears welled in her eyes.

"Elena?" Bonnie sat up straighter in her chair, a look of concern crossing her face.

Jeremy grabbed hold of Bonnie's wrist. He gave a minute shake of his head. "Vampire mood swings are…" His eyes flashed in Elena's direction while squeezing his hand closed over his ring. "You okay Elena?"

She wiped angrily at the tears flowing down her cheeks. "I'm fine."

Jeremy turned and whispered in Bonnie's direction. "Don't move." He slowly scooted farther back in his chair until he could see down the hallway. Damon's back was to them as he spoke with Carol Lockwood. "Um, Damon?" Jeremy turned back to watch Elena. "It's going to be okay, Elena. Try to drink some more of your tea." Elena's hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't hold the mug. "Damon. Kind of need you in here." Faint veins appeared around Elena's eyes as she forced herself to keep her attention fixed on the table. "Damon!"

The dark-haired vampire's face fell as he entered the room. "Hey, whatever it is, it's going to be okay." He pulled Elena to her feet and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. Damon brushed her hair behind one ear and kissed the top of her head. "What were y'all talking about?" He nodded at Jeremy's questioning look. "It's okay. Carol knows everything." With the emphasis on the last word, it was clear what his conversation with the mayor occurring in foyer entailed.

"Silas stuff." Bonnie patted the closed grimoire and flinched at Damon's expression. "Sorry."

"Maybe wait for me next time." Damon rocked slowly back and forth as Elena struggled to regain her composure.

"We still can't find anything, Damon." Elena spoke through tears of frustration.

"We will." Damon rubbed his hand over her back. "Turns out, Dr. Shane really was a college friend of Carol's. She's going to try to get in touch with him for us."

The hall clock struck 8. Jeremy frowned and picked up his backpack from the floor. "We've gotta go, or we'll be late." He slid his chair back and smiled at Elena. "Good luck this morning. Let me know how everything goes."

* * *

"Thanks again for doing this." Elena tugged at the gap in her button-down blouse where her lace bra tried to peek through.

"No problem. Dr. Myers is a good friend of mine. He owed me a favor." Dr. Fell spun the sliding chair to better face Elena. She seemed to notice Elena fighting with her blouse. "You know that's normal, right?"

Damon resisted the urge to stare. Over the past week, it had become clear that Elena would soon need a shopping trip. She was still rail-thin, but certain areas of her anatomy had been changing at a fairly rapid clip, and he didn't mind at all.

"And how are you feeling? Tired? Nauseous? Moody?" Meredith looked up from the laptop's screen.

"Yes." Damon answered for Elena, drawing a grin from Meredith.

"That's good. It shows the hormones levels are rising." She tapped on the keyboard.

"So the test was right?" He was forced to admit that he'd still carried more than a shadow of doubt that the pregnancy test Elena had taken at Caroline's house had been out of date or not effective on vampires and Elena's physical and emotional changes were still just side-effects of her less-than-smooth transition.

"Are you asking if she's really pregnant?" Meredith eyed Damon with amusement. "That's a pretty definite yes, but I can't use the blood work for verification." She turned and addressed Elena. "Don't _ever _let someone draw your blood for lab work. They'll lock you up for scientific research so fast your head would spin. Trust me, vampire blood looks – _unique_ under a microscope." Meredith rolled her eyes and sighed in mild frustration. "File this under things I never thought I'd see. I've done a lot of research on vampires. Everything says that this can't happen, but Elena's definitely pregnant." She turned away from Damon and Elena sitting side by side on the couch and typed a few keystrokes. "But telling how far along you are is the hard part. You're sure you weren't pregnant when you turned?"

"I'm sure." Elena nodded, obviously not really wanting to revisit the topic.

"How sure?" Meredith countered.

"It was that time of the month." Elena's cheeks flushed a mild pink. "And I hadn't had sex in at least six months."

"Not even with Stefan?" Meredith appeared honestly surprised.

Elena shook her head. "We'd been going through a rough patch. Things hadn't been the same since he'd gotten back from his summer with Klaus."

Interesting. Stefan had made it seem like he and Elena fell right back where they'd left off. Damon reached out and took hold of her hand, running his thumb over the back of hers.

"Well, that rules one idea out. That still doesn't help us figure out how far along she is." Meredith glared at the computer. "I'd say you feel about 8 or 9 weeks. Conception would have been around here." She pointed the tip of her ballpoint pen at the calendar. November 29th.

Elena's blush deepened even farther. "That…sounds about right."

Damon grinned at her side. "That was a _very_ good night." He received an elbow in the side for his comment, but he didn't care. It was worth it to finally get a smile out of Elena.

"Well then." Meredith seemed more than happy to brush over Damon's last comment. "You're due around August 22nd." She spun in the chair to face the desk where she picked up a handful of pamphlets and tucked them into a plastic bag. She turned back to face Elena and handed her the pale purple bag. "We'll have to figure out a way to do your exams." She let out a long breath. "It might be easier for me to do them at the boardinghouse – not sure how many times Dr. Myers will let me borrow his office for my mystery patient. Next time we should be able to hear the heartbeat." She reached out and squeezed Elena's hand. "I know you didn't expect this, but this should be kind of an exciting time. Try to enjoy it, okay?"

"I'll try."

"You can go out around back." Meredith pointed to a door at the far corner of the doctor's office. "I don't want to have to answer too many questions."

"I understand. Thanks again for doing this."

"That's what I'm here for." Meredith tore off a slip of paper from a notepad and handed it to Elena.

"A school excuse." Elena glanced at her watch. "Lovely. I'll be getting back to school just in time for lunch."

Damon squeezed Elena's shoulder with his hand and raised his eyebrows. "You don't really have to go to school if you don't want to." He tucked his thumb beneath her collar and toyed with her bra strap. He hadn't been in the room during the exam, but he'd been able to get more than just a peek beneath her blouse while sitting next to her on the couch. He knew her appearance today was going to drive the guys in her class crazy – it certainly was affecting him. She seemed to be feeling halfway normal at the moment, and it had been a very long few weeks for a certain portion of his anatomy.

Elena turned to face him. "Yeah, I do." She tossed the bag Meredith had given her in the back seat of her car and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. "I've missed enough school as it is."

Pressing flat against him, he knew she couldn't ignore his erection pressing into her, but he was distracted by the ever so slight curve he could feel on her belly. "Is that?" He pulled away and ran his hand over her yoga pants.

"Yeah." She gave a shy smile. "I was wondering when you'd notice."

"And you _really _want to go to school today?"

Elena grinned. "I do. "

"Then I'll definitely be waiting when you get home."

* * *

"Well, thank you. I obviously misunderstood the name of the university he said he worked for. I'm sorry to have bothered you." Damon hung up the phone with a thud before crossing yet another university off the list. Thirty colleges down. Just a few hundred more to go.

A door closed downstairs, and Damon glanced up at the clock on the mantle. "Elena?" He jogged down the stairs and skidded to a stop when he caught sight of the brunette standing in the study.

"Interesting choice of reading material." Katherine's curls brushed over her shoulder as she inclined her head in his direction. She picked up the _American Baby _magazine from the top of the stack on the side table next to the couch. "Is Elena going to be an aunt? I always knew that Jeremy was going to come to a bad end." She wrinkled her nose and attempted a sympathetic expression.

"What are you doing here, Katherine?" Damon leaned over from the opposite side of the table and straightened the stack.

Katherine grinned in amusement before she strode purposefully in his direction, the heels of her boots echoing off the hardwood floor. "Why Damon, I was under the impression you asked us to come back to Mystic Falls." She smiled coyly as the front door opened for a second time.

"Yeah, Damon, you sent me a text saying that something was wrong." Stefan walked into the room carrying two suitcases. He barely paused to address Damon before continuing down the hall and up the stairs. From the look of things, he was planning on staying a while.

"Of course, what else is new?" Katherine's words were as smooth as melted chocolate.

Damon nodded in understanding. No wonder the random murder streak had ended so abruptly. "You've been with Stefan. But I sent that text a month ago."

"And we would have come back sooner, but we were a little busy…." The front door opened a third time.

"Whose car is that?" Elena adjusted her messenger bag on her shoulder while rounding the corner from the entryway. Damon stepped to her side and took the bag from her.

Katherine raised an eyebrow as her eyes slowly traveled up and down Elena, stopping where Elena's white blouse puckered over her chest. She gave Damon a look like a cat that swallowed the canary. "And it looks like you have too." She advanced purposefully in Elena's direction, but Elena stood her ground.

"So what was so urgent?" Stefan hopped down off the lowermost stair and froze in shock.

"This should be good." Katherine walked back into the study, watching the brothers face off like a spectator at a sporting event.

Damon took a single step to the side, effectively blocking Elena from Stefan's view. "It's not a problem any longer. So you can just go back upstairs and get your bags."

"I don't think so." Stefan circled Elena like a cat chasing a weakened mouse. "After all, it's my house." He smirked coolly. "And, I'm wondering if something else is mine too."

"You need to leave." Damon's voice was at its most threatening.

And then Katherine screamed.

* * *

Katherine stood over the pile of notes Bonnie and Jeremy had left with Damon before they hurried out the door on their way to school that morning. She picked up the corner of a sheet of notebook paper covered in Jeremy's messy scrawl. "Silas?"

Elena felt as if ice dropped into the pit of her stomach. _Katherine _was afraid.

The standoff between Damon and Stefan forgotten for the moment, Damon walked toward Katherine. "What do you know about Silas?"

"I know I don't want to in Mystic Falls when he gets here." Katherine answered vaguely.

"Why not?" Elena found her voice and stepped to Damon's side.

Katherine nodded slowly, staring at Elena. She mumbled something Elena couldn't fully understand, but one of the words was definitely Petrova. She locked eyes with Stefan who stood off to Damon's left. "She's the key."

"Believe it or not, we're ahead of you there." Damon drew his index finger through the air as if he were marking off a checklist.

"You knew?" Katherine stiffened and rounded on Stefan. "Did you tell them I was with you? Is that why we needed to come back?"

"No. No." Stefan held his hands in front of his chest and stepped back in retreat.

"He didn't know anything, but you do." Elena was tired of beating around the bush. Katherine definitely knew something – and she was going to tell it. "Tell. Us."

Katherine spun in Elena's direction. "Remember, you asked for it." She paused and stared at Elena's stomach. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to hear it in your…condition." She waited, but Elena simply crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared back at her. "Silas was a warlock. And he was very, very angry when his daughter fell under Klaus and Eljah's spell – and it was even worse when Mikael decided to use Tatia in the spell to create the Original vampire line." Katherine turned away from the group and walked to the sideboard and poured herself a drink. "He became obsessed with putting an end to vampires – all the vampires, but everything hinged on three bloodlines crossing: hunter, Original, and Petrova." Katherine downed the bourbon in a single swallow. "Once the key exists, it's just a matter of time before he comes back…and when he does, we're all dead, but she'll die first."

"How much time?" Damon reached for Elena's hand and enveloped it with his.

"There's a reason Shakespeare said 'Beware the Ides of March.'"

* * *

Elena sat on the edge of the bed. She'd pulled the white bedspread over her legs to fight off the chill that didn't come from the temperature in the room. The brochures Dr. Fell had given her earlier in the day were strewn around her haphazardly, but she was only paying attention to the calendar lying open on her lap. "Sixty days." Her voice caught in her throat as she looked up at Damon, her chocolate brown eyes filled with fear.

"According to Katherine." Damon picked up the calendar and slid it back into the plastic bag. He reached over her and gathered the rest of the reading material and placed it with the calendar.

Elena rolled her eyes and her eyes sparkled with tears for the second time that day. "She doesn't have a reason to lie about this, Damon."

He kicked off his shoes and sat on the bed, straddling her from behind. She leaned back against his chest, and he scooped her hair over one shoulder. "I know she doesn't." He kissed her collarbone before working his way up to the delicate skin at the juncture of her neck and her shoulder. "But if we've learned anything, it's that the old legends can be twisted to suit the ones telling the story."

"So you don't think it's true?" Elena tilted her head to the side in response to his teeth lightly grazing her skin.

"I don't know." His fingers toyed with the top button of her blouse. "But I do know one thing..."

"Damon." Elena attempted to protest, but groaned as his hand palmed her breast.

"I've been dying to touch you all day." His thumb circled her nipple, and he let his fangs pierce her skin. He allowed his other hand to travel lower, dipping below the waistband of her pants.

Heavy silence filled the room as he continued to drink while holding her in his arms. A shiver racked her body and his goal of relaxing her was complete. He spun her around to face him and unbuttoned the rest of her blouse. Her swollen breasts strained against her lace bra, and he quickly freed them from their restraint. "You're so beautiful." He'd never thought he'd have the chance to see the changes in a woman's body from expecting his child. Elena's cheeks flushed under the intensity of his adoration. He covered one nipple with his lips as his hand supported her back.

"You know they can probably hear us." Elena murmured as she rested her cheek on top of his head.

Reluctantly pulling away from her breast, blue eyes met brown. "Let them." Elena was right. Katherine had no reason to lie to them. Her life as a vampire was linked to Elena's life right now. And yes, he was scared. The threat Silas posed to Elena and their unborn child meant far more to him than his own life.

But right now, he just wanted to make these moments count.

Elena stripped him of his Henley and ran her hands over the planes of his chest. Damon moaned as she lightly drew her fingernails down the faint trail of hair leading to his belt buckle. Following her lead, he stripped her of her pants and lace panties in one smooth motion before tossing his own jeans to the side. His cock twitched and hardened beyond what he imagined possible when he studied the curve on Elena's belly likely only visible to someone with a vampire's senses.

Damon gently lowered Elena to the bed and crawled down her body. Straddling her, he kissed just below her belly button. She threaded her fingers through his hair, and he gazed up into her eyes before turning his attention back to her belly.

_Damn it, _he was going to make sure the witches won this time. The Petrova line wouldn't end. He'd thought he was already to fight harder than he ever had before to keep Elena safe. But something was different now. He _would _make sure this baby survived – and that meant Silas couldn't be allowed to get close to Elena.

"Damon." Elena took hold of his hand and gave a gentle tug. He knew what that look in her eyes meant. She shifted on the bed, opening herself to him as he crept back over her body, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. "I need you." Her hands gripped his hips, and her eyes fluttered closed when he finally gave her what she wanted. Her head dropped back and her hair moved in gentle waves over the pillow in time with his uncharacteristically gentle movements. "You're not going to hurt me."

"Let's not take that chance." He worked one hand between their bodies and watched as a single flick of his wrist sent her over the edge. With one more thrust, he cried out as he followed.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's note: I have the final chapters "sketched" out. I hope to post one every day until the story's completion (which I estimate to be Wednesday). Some will be fairly short, but I hope that's okay since there will be a chapter posted daily.

Let's go!

Warnings: Mature – adult content, character death, language, violence, sensitive subject matter, Bonnie, Stefan – should I place a "Caroline" warning now?

* * *

_Whish. Whish. Whish. Whish._

"Isn't that really fast?" Elena looked up at Damon as the first sounds of their baby's heartbeat sounded in the room. She'd heard something like it on television, but to hear it in person was a completely unique experience. She was surprised when she felt a tear forming in the corner of her eyes. Damon squeezed her hand and wiped the tear with his thumb.

"One hundred fifty beats a minute." Meredith tucked the instrument into her bag and keyed her notes into the computer.

"That's good, right?" Elena tried to remember what the section on fetal heartbeats said in the pregnancy guide she'd been reading earlier in the day, but she had too much on her mind to concentrate while she'd been reading it.

"Perfectly normal." Dr. Fell gently pressed on Elena's stomach and nodded to herself. "Have you felt the baby move yet?"

"No. Should I have?" Elena's pulse quickened in alarm.

"Still probably a little early, but you're so thin, you might be able to feel it sooner than expected." She reached out and took hold of Elena's hand and pulled her into a sitting position. "Which brings us to…." Meredith glared at her laptop. Elena frowned. She knew this was coming. "You've lost five more pounds, Elena, which brings your total to 15. You're supposed to be gaining weight, not losing it."

"I've been trying." Elena glanced at Damon for support. Now that she wasn't vomiting constantly, she felt as if she spent almost the entire time she was awake eating.

"She really has been." He agreed. "She eats – a lot." He winked at Elena.

Meredith shook her head. "It doesn't seem to be doing any good." She tapped her laptop screen with a pen. "And, I had a chance to look at your blood count before I came over. Your iron's really low. That's why you've been so tired."

"I thought that was just because she isn't sleeping." Damon ran a hand over Elena's shoulder and down to the small of her back.

Meredith crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I know you've got a lot on your mind, but I need you to take better care of yourself. Eat at least five small meals every day. Get some sleep. Take a nap when you get home from school." She turned to Damon. "I'm going to trust that you'll help me make sure she's doing it."

Damon nodded. "I'll make sure."

"Excellent." She turned back to the computer and pulled up the calendar. "Looks like your next appointment should be March 16th. I'm going to need you to come into the hospital for that one. We get to take a peek at this little one. Y'all are going to need to decide if you want to know boy or girl."

Elena stopped listening at March 16th. "I'm sorry. What?"

"We'll be doing your first sonogram. Baby pictures. Fun stuff." Meredith waited with her fingers pressed on the keyboard. "Do you want to come in before school or after school?"

"The sixteenth." Elena shook her head. "I don't know. That's not a great day. Can we do it sooner?"

Meredith shook her head. "It'd be too early."

"She'll be there." Damon answered for her as he squeezed Elena's hand. "How's eight o'clock?"

"That's great." Meredith typed Elena's appointment into the calendar on the computer before shutting it down. "Eat more. Sleep more." She placed a hand on Elena's knee. "I'll see you on the sixteenth, but let me know if you need anything before then."

"I will. Thanks." Elena sat on the edge of the bed as Damon escorted Meredith out of the house. She picked up her phone to add the reminder in her calendar, but a large part of her wondered if she were just playing pretend. Katherine said Silas would return on March 15th. Still, she added the note to 8 am with a reminder set an hour beforehand. Somehow, she doubted she'd need it.

* * *

Elena placed her fork down across her plate, signaling surrender. Damon had to give her credit. After having absolutely no appetite for weeks, she'd managed to eat almost her entire steak and baked potato. Even after saying she was too full to manage another bite, she'd been at his mercy when he placed the Oreo cheesecake in front of her. He knew her weakness.

"I'm stuffed. If I eat another bite, I think I'm going to explode." She wiped her lips with the corner of a napkin and let out a satisfied sigh. "If I keep eating like this, I'll get an entirely different kind of lecture at my next visit."

Her smile changed to a frown and then a look of sadness. The morning sickness was gone, but the mood swings were still a force to be reckoned with. "Don't think about that right now. You still have ten pounds to gain back."

"That's not what I was talking about." Elena's eyes focused on a point above Damon's shoulder.

"I know." He nodded while he pushed his chair back from the table, thankful that Elena at least pretended not to notice how little he'd eaten. Picking up his plate, he crossed to the sink and placed it on the countertop before he turned back to Elena. Leaning down, he kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you go upstairs for a little while? I'll come get you when everyone gets here."

"If I stop moving, I'll fall asleep." Elena protested.

"Exactly." He bent low and whispered into her ear. "I have plans for later tonight."

She tilted her head up until she met his eyes. She gave him the smile he loved best. "You always have plans at night."

"Mmm hmmm." Damon agreed. "So go upstairs and take a nap. Doctor's orders."

"You'll wake me when everyone gets here?" She reluctantly stood and began walking toward the stairs.

"I promise." Damon pointed to the stairwell and watched as she slowly climbed out of view.

"Steak?" Katherine stepped from out of the hallway leading to the basement and lurked in the corner of the kitchen. "Are we celebrating Elena's impending doom?"

"Why are you still here?" Damon turned away from her and took his place at the sink. He turned on the faucet and poured a stream of dish soap in the stream of water.

"Look at you. Being all domestic. She must be really great in bed to go to all this trouble." Damon could feel Katherine's smirk without having to turn around. "And now she's taking a nap. Don't you think you need someone closer to your own age?"

Damon turned around and leaned against the edge of the countertop. He picked up the ivory towel and wiped the suds off his hands before he continued. "Her iron count's low. That's why we had steak, and that's why she's asleep upstairs."

"An anemic vampire?" Katherine rolled her eyes. "Do you _know _how ironic that sounds?"

"About as unlikely as a pregnant vampire." Damon took hold of the handle of the faucet and turned off the water before he had an additional mess to clean up. "So if you'll excuse me, I've got a little work to do before everyone gets here."

Katherine didn't move. And for some reason, Damon couldn't turn away. He couldn't read the expression on her face. She stared at him while silently spinning a tendril of hair around her index finger. "You really love her, don't you?" Her question sounded so earnest, he couldn't help but answer.

"More than you'll ever know." He waited for the next barrage in their verbal tennis match, but it didn't come. Instead, the expression on Katherine's face softened unexpectedly.

"I'll stay." She waited as if she were expecting applause.

"You'll stay?"

"I'll help you protect your precious Elena."

"You mean you'll save your own life?" Damon didn't forget that the lives of all the vampires currently hinged on Elena staying alive.

"True, but, in the event that your little rag tag group of rebels did somehow manage to overtake Silas, I'd stand a lot higher chance of walking away from this if I didn't stay to help. And Elena's more likely to live through it if I'm here too. Admit it, you need me."

Damon stared back into Katherine's deep brown eyes – a disconcerting mixture of all too familiar and completely foreign as they looked back at him. They contained all the fire and intensity he'd experienced first hand with Elena, but Katherine's eyes held none of the warmth of Elena's that captured him the first time they'd met. As much as he hated to admit it since he detested relying on Katherine for anything, he knew she was right. He nodded once. "We need you."

The doorbell rang, interrupting their conversation. Katherine gave him a minx-like look as she slowly backed away. He trusted Katherine about as far as he could throw her, but he had to admit that she was the strongest vampire available at the moment.

"Come on in." Damon stepped out of the doorway to let Jeremy through the front door. Jeremy sniffed the air appreciatively. "There's a plate staying warm in the oven for you. Eat fast. You're late."

"Not my fault. Craig decided I needed to do inventory of the freezer."

"Well, hurry." Damon turned on his heel as another knock sounded at the door. "No food in the study."

"I know." Jeremy sounded as if he were tired of being lectured by his father. Damon chuckled at the change in their relationship over the past year. The door to the oven squeaked open as Jeremy stopped talking.

Damon strode to the front door to allow Bonnie inside and froze in surprise.

"I was under the impression you were looking for me." Dr. Shane stood in the doorway and smirked.

* * *

Dr. Shane clasped his hands behind his back, looking every bit like the college professor he pretended to be, although Elena knew Damon still hadn't found a university that confirmed he worked there. Throughout the evening, he'd continued to look back and forth between herself and Katherine as if he were still surprised that they actually existed and were currently in the same room with each other.

For someone who claimed to be an expert in the occult, that didn't give her an overwhelming amount of confidence. His recommendation was simply that they all go into a seldom-explored section of the ancient tunnels running beneath Mystic Falls and wait on the night of March 14th.

"So you want us to just stand there?" Jeremy shared her point of view.

"He won't be expecting to be met with opposition." Dr. Shane glared at Jeremy with the same impatience she'd seen on the face of teachers dealing with students who couldn't grasp the point of a lecture. Maybe he was a teacher after all.

Caroline leaned forward in her seat and widened her eyes in annoyance. "And then what do we do?"

"Hope that some of you survive long enough to kill him." Dr. Shane's tone carried the same amount of emotion as if he were talking about setting off a bug fogger in an attempt to end an infestation of cockroaches. "The stories talk about Silas being able to kill an entire coven of witches with a single glance. Everyone in this room is supernatural. Surely one of you will last long enough to take him out."

And therefore expendable….Elena could hear the dismissive tone in his voice.

"Jeremy's not." Bonnie was quick to correct him.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Dr. Shane's eyes stared down at Jeremy with an undeniable mixture of hunger and curiosity.

She couldn't just sit there any longer. "So you're saying that most of the people in this room will die?"

Dr. Shane nodded. "If not all of them."

"I can't let them do it." Elena locked eyes with Damon, but she was overwhelmed with the thought of losing any of them. Well, maybe not Katherine. She could go.

"If Silas is able to get to you, it won't matter Elena. He fully intends to kill you – and therefore them as well. When you die, so will every other vampire….or werewolf for that matter." Dr. Silas was using a _why am I having to talk with a toddler _voice.

"So we take our chances facing off with him in the tunnels or just wait for him to show up and kill Elena – and then we all die anyway?" Tyler asked. Elena had wondered why he'd come to the meeting, but now that she knew werewolves were part of the package deal it made more sense.

"To put it bluntly, yes."

Tyler looked first to Jeremy and then nodded at Caroline. "Then we'll be ready."

* * *

Elena awoke with a start. The meeting had lasted past midnight, and she hadn't been able to fall asleep until close to two. Something had been bothering her, and it hadn't simply been Damon's uncharacteristic silence. After hours spent imagining the various ways her friends would die, she finally fell into a fitful slumber.

Until she envisioned Jeremy's lifeless eyes staring up at her. Thankfully, she'd been able to pull herself out of that nightmare. Her hair was tangled with sweat and her nightshirt soaked as she tried to settle her speeding heartbeat. She reached out to Damon's side of the bed for reassurance and found it cold and empty.

Where was he?

She slid out of bed and reached for her robe. Tugging the belt tight, she stepped into her bunny slippers. Elena stepped from the bedroom she shared with Damon and listened in the hallway.

Katherine and Stefan were definitely awake even though no light peeked out from beneath Stefan's door. At least they seemed to be able to distract themselves from the evening's grim news. No wonder he routinely fell asleep in history class.

Light peeked out from the room at the far end of the hallway. As she walked to it, she could hear the unmistakable sounds of someone moving around. Elena rapped lightly on the door before pushing it open. Damon stood in the center of the room, facing the French doors leading to the gracious balcony.

"I didn't mean to wake you." He slowly turned to face her.

"You didn't." Elena shook her head. "I just rolled over and you weren't there." Silence fell between them. Damon wasn't in the habit of wandering the house in the middle of the night, and Elena was very much aware of her current disheveled state. They both knew why the other was awake, even if they didn't want to talk about it.

"What if we put the crib there?" He pointed to the far side of the wall. "It'll be out of the morning sun, but she can still see the squirrels stealing food from the bird feeder."

"You're sure the baby's a she?"

"Definitely." He walked behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder. Damon placed his hands over the bulge that she was no longer able to hide. He sighed in satisfaction. "It's going to be a girl, and she'll have the little boys wrapped around her finger when she looks at them with her doe eyes."

Elena wanted to smile, but she finally realized what had been bothering her ever since the appointment with Meredith. "You said she."

"That's generally how you refer to a girl." Elena felt his cheek curve into a smirk against the side of her face.

"That's not what I meant." Elena spun in his grip and stared into his eyes. "Today. With Meredith. When she set the next appointment, you said '_She'll be there._' Damon, you've always said we. You haven't missed a doctor's appointment yet. Why didn't you say we? Where will you be?" She knew she sounded desperate, but she didn't care.

His eyes told her the answer she didn't want to hear. He released his grip on her waist and cupped her cheeks in his hands. "Elena, I've never lied to you." His thumb trailed over her jaw as his voice was heavy with emotion. "Please don't make me start now."


	13. Chapter 13

Author's note: Well, it's been a nice break, but I've gone back on deadline a week earlier than I expected. Rather than make y'all wait till March for this story to wrap up (especially since I know what's coming), I've decided to do a time jump. Hope y'all don't mind. Thanks so much for all your reviews. I'm trying to catch up right now. I appreciate all of them so much. I hope to have responded to everyone by Friday.

Warnings: Mature – character death, adult content, violence, language, cliffhanger ahoy

* * *

_March 14_

Elena tied the scarf around her neck and hurried around the bedroom. She couldn't believe she'd let herself be talked into this, although she didn't really have a choice. Last night, when they were making last-minute plans for tonight, Caroline decided they needed a girls' afternoon to look for dresses for the upcoming dance. Elena tried to protest, but Damon said it would be a good idea for her to get out of the house.

She spent eight hours a day out of the house.

Something was definitely up, but she decided not to protest.

"Caroline's car's pulling up." Damon called out from somewhere on the first floor.

Elena slipped on her shoes. "I'm coming." She stood and kicked something under the edge of the bed. Scotch tape. She'd needed it for her history project the night before, and she'd wondered where it had gone. Apparently either she or Damon had kicked it under the bed when they'd made a little history of their own.

She reached down and grabbed the tape, hurrying into Damon's office. She tugged open the top drawer to return it to its place and froze.

In the center of the top drawer was an envelope that hadn't been there yesterday. _Elena _was neatly written in Damon's familiar handwriting on the front. The room swam around her and the tape fell out of her hand and bounced onto the floor.

He'd written her a letter.

A letter he hadn't told her about.

He'd placed it somewhere she'd easily find it.

"Elena?" His footsteps echoed through the quiet house. "Everything okay?"

She fought to steady her voice, but all she could think about was the sealed envelope in the drawer she'd just slid closed. "Everything's fine. I just decided to change clothes. Tell Caroline I'm on my way down."

* * *

"Elena, I'm going to need a little effort here. What do you think?" Caroline turned to the side as the peach silk swirled around her knees.

"I like the blue one better." Every time Elena closed her eyes, she saw the envelope in Damon's desk drawer.

Caroline frowned back at her from the mirror. "The dress we found for you was blue."

"But it doesn't fit." Elena loved the cornflower blue dress, that was true, but the size 5 prevented her from breathing while the size 9 practically fell off onto the floor.

Caroline placed a hand on her hip. "That's why we'll be going to a different store next weekend."

Elena leaned back against the wall in defeat. "If any of us are here next weekend."

Caroline whirled around. "Elena Gilbert. You do still go by Gilbert, right?"

"I'm not married to Damon."

"You might as well be." Caroline rolled her eyes. "If we stopped living every time there was some unbelievable supernatural creature threatening to end life as we knew it." Caroline spoke in a stage whisper. "Well, things around here would have been pretty boring over the last two years." She grabbed Elena's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Now, you still have the purple one and the turquoise one to try on." She glanced at her watch. "And we're not leaving here till I see them."

Elena walked into the dressing room door after giving Caroline a mock salute. Caroline had a point. Elena had lost count of the times she'd almost died during her last two years of high school, and, of course, there was that pesky time she really did die.

Now she stood in a dressing room trying on maternity dresses for the spring fling dance. There was something more than just a little surreal about that. She took the first dress off the hanger. The dress wasn't exactly purple, more like eggplant. The ruched fabric had a slight sparkle to it that made it seem even fancier than might be appropriate for the dance. When she slid it over her head, the plunging neckline accentuated the fact that her pregnancy was progressing very well.

"Let's see it." Caroline tapped on the dressing room door.

Elena stepped out and grinned at Caroline's wide-eyed appreciation.

"I don't know if Damon would be able to let you out of the house like that." Caroline raised an eyebrow. "Seriously." Caroline stared at Elena's chest.

"Isn't that how she got that way?" An unfamiliar elderly shopper wrinkled her nose in distaste and frowned like she was sucking on a lemon.

Elena's mood crashed back down to earth. "Maybe I'll try the other one."

"No." Caroline followed Elena back into the dressing room. "Don't let that old bitty bother you."

"Caroline, I get slut shamed almost every day." Elena's lower lip trembled. "It just happens."

"Well, you shouldn't let it. The next time someone says anything, you need to compel them that they'd look better if they gained thirty pounds."

"Caroline!" Elena took a step back from her friend in surprise.

"Weren't you wondering why Mrs. Padgett suddenly looks like she's about to have twins?" Caroline's lips turned up in glee. "She smarted off about Matt not being able to afford a coat back in January."

"And so you compelled her?"

"I'm not ashamed." Caroline giggled, but then her face fell. "But that doesn't really make it better, does it?" She studied Elena's expression, realizing any of the afternoon's fun was at an end. "Come on, I'll take you home."

* * *

Elena placed her solitary shopping bag on the wing chair in the living room, wondering how long Damon would let the bag stay in the room before whisking it away to her closet. She laughed softly to herself and sniffed. Definitely Italian. She'd wondered if Caroline was working for Damon, since she'd checked her watch no fewer than ten times during their outing. When it was finally six o'clock, Caroline seemed visibly relieved as they walked to the car.

"Damon?" Elena peered around the doorway into the kitchen. A cluster of candles glowed warmly from the center of the blood-red tablecloth.

"Just in time." Damon backed away from the oven holding a clear dish. "Of course, I'd told the Mystic Queen what time I needed you back."

Elena laughed again. So Caroline really had been given instructions by Damon. She raised onto her toes and peeked at the food he was placing on the china plates. "Chicken parmesan?"

Damon nodded, pretending like this was any other Friday night when he just happened to make her a special candlelight dinner. "Jeremy told me it was your favorite."

"It is." She forced a smile. So they were going to play it this way. No long, drawn-out goodbyes…..at least not for now. Just another typical night in Mystic Falls, while the clock sped all too quickly toward ten o'clock. Of course, since the last two years had basically been one long threat against Elena's life – or unlife – it really was just another Friday night.

"After you." Damon acted the part of the perfect gentleman as he pulled her chair back from the table and waited for her to take her seat. "No wine for you." He grinned and winked. "So I made the sweet tea just the way you like it."

"Meredith won't be happy."

"What your doctor doesn't know won't hurt her." Damon winked and brought Elena her plate.

Chicken parmesan, Caesar salad, and the homemade garlic bread she loved. No wonder Caroline insisted they visit those last two shops. Damon might have been blessed with vampire speed, but he couldn't make the oven cook any faster.

Damon poured himself a glass of wine before placing his cloth napkin on his lap. "Did you find a dress?"

"I didn't, but Caroline did."

Damon nodded, taking a bite of his salad. "Did you not find one you liked?"

Elena shrugged. "There was a blue one, but they didn't have the right size." Amid all the small talk, it hit her….Damon's absolute avoidance of the elephant in the room.

No "when we get through this….."

No "we'll always survive."

Instead, they were talking about her afternoon with Caroline, and the impact of that knowledge weighed down on her like lead in her stomach.

At his encouraging glance, she sliced a piece of chicken and took a bite. Any other day, she'd be amazed – it was that good. The tomato was perfectly balanced by hints of oregano and other spices. It had just enough cheese without allowing it to overwhelm the breaded chicken. "This is really good. Better than Stefan's." She finally managed the compliment.

"That's not the only thing of mine that's better than Stefan's." He raised his eyebrows suggestively, and Elena realized something else. The house was quiet.

"Where are they?" Elena pivoted in her seat and strained to hear any other noise in the house. Katherine was normally around. She could never get quite enough satisfaction from needling Elena. And Stefan was normally lurking just out of sight. Unless they were – occupied.

Damon took a sip from his glass. "They decided to leave for the rest of the evening."

Silence fell between them as Elena tried to play along, but Damon had always been better at pretending like nothing was wrong than she was. Each time she swallowed, her throat threatened to close with emotion. Eating simply wasn't going to happen tonight - no matter the effort Damon had put into the meal. Elena gave up on the attempt to choke down the meal. Damon's eyes followed the path of her fork to her plate. She must have given some sign of surrender – even if she didn't know what it was. Because before she even had time to register the fact that he'd moved from his place next to her, he'd lifted her from her chair and attacked her with a hunger that suggested they hadn't been together hundreds of other times.

As his fingers tangled through her hair, his lips were filled with the hungry desperation of their first time. Without giving her a chance to catch her breath, his hands were under her pockets, lifting her legs to his waist. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging to him as if she never wanted to let go.

His lips never leaving hers, he sped up the stairs, and soon she felt the familiar coolness of his sheets beneath her back. But the sheets were the only thing that were cool in the room.

As he broke away from her to tear her blouse off her, his eyes blazed with a white hot intensity. He rolled her onto her stomach while sliding her panties and jeans off her legs in one smooth motion. She turned her head as he lowered himself next to her on the bed – somewhere along the way, he'd gotten rid of his clothes. Damn, he was good.

Damon kissed the back of her knees while he kneaded her thighs with his hands. They'd already memorized every part of each other, but he tenderly kissed every inch of her skin as if he were learning her body for the very first time. He raised her onto her knees and pulled her back against his chest.

She felt his hardness pressing into her back, the cool wetness tracing a path down her ass signaled just how ready for her he was. But he waited. Instead of plunging into her, she shuddered as his teeth nipped at the juncture of her neck and her collarbone. He hadn't fed from her since they'd learned about the baby.

But tonight, he wasn't simply feeding. She could sense his desperation as his fangs plunged into her skin. She shuddered at both the feeling that washed over her combined with the knowledge of what was about to come. As he drank, he moaned in pure male satisfaction. His palms cupped her breasts as he pulled her tighter and closer into him. He drank until a wave of euphoria washed over both of them.

And then he couldn't wait any longer.

Elena held her breath as he spun her around and pressed her into the bed with a bruising gentleness. She opened herself to him, and he didn't deny her. Sliding into her, she was filled with him. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle – neither one complete without the other.

He pressed into her with excruciating slowness.

Damon was doing this on purpose, drawing the moment out, tantalizing her with the merest hint of what was to come.

She felt every millimeter of him as he drew out his thrust – his eyes locked on hers. As his hips met hers, she couldn't help it. She squeezed her eyes closed and buried her head into his shoulder.

"I want to see your eyes." His words surprised her. Damon never spoke while they made love….but Elena knew this wasn't just any day, no matter how hard they were both trying to ignore the unseen timer ticking away at the last minutes.

She forced her eyes open, surprised at the wetness on her cheek. She gazed up into his face. And realized the tears weren't hers.

As the intensity between them built like the promise of a gathering storm, Damon couldn't hold back any longer, and he unleashed the full intensity of his desire for her.

Once.

Twice.

Three times he plunged into her before he shuddered and froze just as a wave of indescribable pleasure washed over Elena. He smiled down at her, giving her the uneven grin she loved best. Both participants panting and spent, Elena found her voice first. "I love you."

Damon rolled onto his side and cupped her cheek with his hand. "You have no idea how much I love you." His voice coarse with emotion, Elena watched as he shifted against the pillow. "Which is why I have to do this."

A sharp pain stabbed at her arm as if she'd just been stung by a bee. The edges of the world around her instantly clouded, but the look of intense grief on Damon's face was the last thing she saw before everything went dark.


	14. Chapter 14

Warnings: Mature – character death, violence, language, adult content, Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline

* * *

Elena's head pounded with the same intensity as the night Matt snuck his mother's vodka out of the house in celebration of Elena's sixteenth birthday. She'd never thought her head would throb that badly again, but her current headache made that one seem trivial. And she couldn't figure out where she was. Or how she got there. Each attempt to open her eyes was met with a definite lack of success. She rolled onto her side, and listened to the crinkle of plastic and felt the rough fabric rubbing against her cheek. But the smell was familiar.

Dank.

Musty.

A faint hint of something Italian.

Fresh cut wood.

Nothing in that combination made sense, so she gave up the attempt at waking up and surrendered to sleep once again.

* * *

Elena registered sounds first. Rhythmic and continual. Someone was here in the darkness with her. She wasn't certain how long she'd been asleep since her last attempt to open her eyes, but the headache was less like an elephant tap dancing on her head and more like the worst hangover in her life.

She cracked one eye open a fraction of an inch. The world around her was still a blur.

"Finally." Jeremy's voice cut through the darkness. "I was beginning to think Dr. Fell guessed wrong on the sedative. You've been out for almost five hours."

Sedative? Elena felt her forehead crease as she struggled to remember exactly what was going on. Why was she … here? And why was Jeremy with her? Her last memory was of being with Damon – literally.

Her eyes shot open and she sat up in shock.

Which was a really bad idea.

"Whoa." Jeremy tossed something down on the floor and caught hold of her shoulders before she tumbled off the narrow cot she was sitting on. "Meredith said you'd be dizzy for a while. Here, drink this."

Elena looked suspiciously at the deep red liquid. Her last attempt at consuming blood of any kind hadn't gone so well.

"It's grape juice. She said raising your blood sugar would be a good idea once you woke up. You are awake, right?" He tilted his head and studied her suspiciously.

Grape juice. Blood sugar. Meredith. Elena had joked that Dr. Fell wouldn't be happy with her drinking the sweet tea, and Damon said that what the doctor didn't know wouldn't hurt her. And then….

"Where's Damon?" Her pulse pounded in her ears as she tried to stand up.

Not a brilliant idea.

The glass of grape juice crashed to the floor as Jeremy caught her right before her knees hit the ground. "Yep, Dr. Fell definitely overestimated how much you'd need."

"But how did she give me anything?" Elena sat on the side of the cot and rubbed her temples. _"You have no idea how much I love you." Damon's voice was coarse with emotion, as he shifted against the pillow. "Which is why I have to do this."_ Shocked, she looked up at Jeremy in disbelief. "He drugged me."

Jeremy nodded, and Elena didn't miss the fact that he gripped his ring tightly on his finger. "He couldn't let you go, Elena."

"But I need to be there." She struggled to her feet and paused while the room stopped rolling beneath her. Running to the door of the Salvatore basement, she threw the lock open and was immediately blocked by an invisible barrier. She turned back to Jeremy and begged him, "Please let me out."

"I can't." He shook his head, and she knew it was the truth.

"Why can't I be there?" Jeremy just stared at her. All the signs had been there, she'd just hoped she was wrong. "This is his way of protecting me, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Jeremy seemed much older than his seventeen years. "Everyone else is waiting in the tunnels."

"And they all knew about Damon's plan?"

Jeremy nodded in agreement.

"Caroline?"

"Yep."

"Bonnie?"

"That would be how we sealed you in here."

"Stefan and Katherine?"

"They were in on it too. Katherine's even wearing one of your shirts. They're hoping it'll buy everyone some extra time."

Elena dropped back onto the cot. She thudded her head against the wall, happy to have a reason for the tears forming in her eyes. "Everyone's there – fighting for me."

"Not quite everyone." Jeremy reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He unlocked the home screen and opened his text messages. He handed it to her.

A smiling Matt stood with his arm around Mickey Mouse. Cinderella's Castle was in the distance. "This is why Matt wasn't at school today?"

"He'll be back tomorrow. Right now, he thinks he's on a trip he won as Employee of the Month. So Damon sent him to Walt Disney World." Jeremy's eyes met hers. "He didn't want to leave you alone."

* * *

"So we're just going to stand here and wait?" Caroline crossed her arms in front of her chest and glanced down at her watch. Only Caroline would be annoyed at the tardiness of their current nemesis of the week.

"Unless you'd like Bonnie to do some type of summoning spell, yes." Katherine snapped back.

The two of them had been going back and forth for the last hour. The rest of those gathered in the deepest part of the tunnel had wisely decided to give them some space.

Vampires.

Hybrids.

Werewolves.

One doppleganger.

One witch.

Normally the supernatural creatures would be fighting each other – or at least avoiding being in the same place at the same time, but now they were unified by a common enemy. Only working together did they stand a chance of ensuring Elena's survival, and that was the key for all of them to stay alive.

"What time is it?" Bonnie glanced at Caroline. They'd been in the tunnel for hours. The cold crept into their bones…or maybe that was just the fear of what was to come.

"Almost midnight." Damon chose to answer. He had to focus on those around him and avoid thinking about Elena. As he'd gently placed her on the cot, Jeremy had promised that he wouldn't leave her side. He'd take care of his sister. Damon had no doubts about that. But would she ever forgive him?

He wasn't sure, but he'd always promised he'd do everything he could to keep her safe. He had to leave her behind. But he refused to leave her alone. She'd have Matt and Jeremy – the two young men who'd be able to contribute least to the fight ahead would be the most important to her eventual survival.

"Were those cracks here yesterday?" Stefan ran his hand along the arch at the far side of the cave. Centuries ago someone had been sealed into this crypt – of that they were certain, exactly who spent eternity here was still a question.

"No." Katherine remarked, spinning around quickly and studying their surroundings.

In the distance, the clock tower chimed midnight.

The occupants of the room held their collective breaths. Nothing happened.

Tyler shoved his hands into his pockets as minutes ticked by. "Maybe Silas operates on Pacific time." The rest of the hybrids chuckled behind him.

And then they stopped.

A low rumble echoed through the tunnels. Like a freight train, but not quite. The stone floor vibrated beneath their feet as wind moaned and howled and rolled around them.

"Somehow, I think he's right on time." Damon turned to face whatever was descending upon them.

* * *

"And then I found you underneath the basement stairs." Jeremy continued to whittle as they tried to pretend this was just another sibling bonding moment.

Elena nodded. Her headache was finally gone, and it was safe to move around…if she had anywhere to go. But she didn't, so she and Jeremy were taking a walk down memory lane. "I'm not sure who was more angry, Mom because I'd been hiding or Sheriff Forbes because you knew where I was the whole time. I still think they believed you were in on the prank."

"I never had trouble finding you."

"And that made hide and seek really suck." Elena picked up her glass of grape juice from the floor. She might be trapped in the cellar, but Jeremy could move around just fine. Dr. Fell was right, the grape juice made her feel better – at least physically.

"Do you think I could find you because I'm a hunter?"

"And I was always destined to be a vampire?"

"No." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "You're the doppleganger."

Elena sighed. Sometimes she forgot that she'd always been a supernatural creature. "Maybe." Silence fell between them again. As time passed, it was becoming more difficult to carry on a conversation. "What time is it?"

Jeremy pulled his sleeve back and looked at his watch. "Just past midnight."

Elena stood and began pacing the room. "I guess we just have to wait."

The floorboards creaked above their heads.

"But I guess not for long." Jeremy gripped the knife he'd been using to whittle the stakes tightly in his hand.

* * *

The wind swirled around them, picking up dust from the floor. The air in the room thickened and pressed menacingly in on them as if it were alive. Beams from flashlights tried to cut through the darkness, but something was there with them.

Actually, it wasn't a single something.

No aged wizard made his appearance.

Instead, the swirls of dirt thickened and coalesced into columns and shapes. Faces appeared.

A soldier in a Civil War uniform.

A woman wearing a floor-length ball gown.

Two teenagers standing hand in hand, their attire appropriate for Woodstock.

The room filled beyond capacity as the cluster of living residents of Mystic Falls stood back to back and shoulder to shoulder.

And even more specters arrived. But these were familiar.

Lexi. Vicki. A carnival worker. Andi.

And they were all angry. At some signal apparent only to them, they began to move forward.

Guisieppe lunged in Stefan's direction as Bree knocked Damon to the ground with a thud.

"How do we fight ghosts?" Caroline's earlier bravado was gone. Damon was fairly certain she'd happily go back to waiting right now. He spun beneath Bree's grip and threw her off him at least for the moment.

Ghosts weren't his biggest concern.

Where was Silas?

* * *

"Isn't this sweet?" Dr. Shane stood in the doorway after throwing open the door as if it were made of tissue paper. He eyed the knife in Jeremy's hand. "Do you really think that will defeat me?" He grinned and took a step into the room.

"Silas." A strange calmness settled over Elena. After weeks spent dreading this meeting, it had finally arrived. Her only regret was how devastated she knew Damon would be when he learned that his attempts to protect her had been in vain.

"I don't believe I'd ever properly introduced myself, have I?" Dr. Shane bowed low. "While you're a copy of my lovely Tatia, I can assure you that I _am _Silas. At least I am now. Dr. Shane was more than happy to offer himself as my host once I'd presented myself. Reincarnation is a beautiful thing, even if my spirit lay dormant until …. certain things lined up correctly." He took another step in Elena's direction, ignoring Jeremy's presence in the room.

"Stay away from her." Jeremy bravely wielded his knife.

Dr. Shane turned to Jeremy and waved his hand as if brushing away a fly. Jeremy flew through the air and out the door, bouncing off the stone wall with an oddly wet thud. His body slid to the floor, and a pool of crimson immediately formed beneath his still form.

"Jeremy!" Elena rushed to the door, but the invisible barrier once again prevented her escape.

"I'm afraid he'll be no help." Dr. Shane's eyes were focused intently on Elena. "Dear, dear. You are progressing along nicely. Such a shame. But that little one can never see the light of day."

Elena searched the room for anything she could use as a weapon, but seriously, how could she contend with that? She turned back to Jeremy and tried to listen for even a faint breath from her brother.

"I don't understand." Elena backed against the cool stone, running out of room for retreat.

"Witches are over-confident, so certain their conditions could never truly be met. Your blonde friend was right. Just name a loophole, and they all come back to you. I really am sorry about that. If I could have prevented this, I truly would have." He reached down and took hold of one of the stakes Jeremy had whittled. "I wonder how many people will think Jeremy was finally overcome by his Hunter blood. Locked in a room with you, he was overwhelmed by the need to destroy his sister."

"Everyone knows that Jeremy wouldn't hurt me." Elena flung the cot in Dr. Shane's direction, and he deflected it with ease.

His cheeks flushed red with anger and he nodded, sending her flying into the wall. "I worked too hard to ensure this would never happen. Did you ever wonder why there are no other Petrovas...or Salvatores for that matter. I can't let it break."

"What are you talking about?" Elena tried to stall him, blinking through tears as her eyes watered from pain.

Dr. Shane smiled. "You won't live long enough for it to matter." He followed her eyes as they stared at the doorway. "And I'm afraid no one is coming to help. Your friends are – busy." His grin widened to jack o' lantern proportions as he continued to stalk closer to her. "They've been met by some old friends." He cackled and suddenly went silent. He ran forward and thrust the stake deep into her shoulder.

"You missed." Elena panted, tearing the stake out of her chest.

"My dear, we're only getting started." He looked up and a chunk of the ceiling rained down on top of her. She felt a warm current of blood begin to trickle down her cheek. "And imagine how much fun my friends are having playing with all those trying to save you."

The air in the room changed. A deep roar built as a cloud of dust raised off the floor.

Dr. Silas lunged in Elena's direction, the stake gripped tightly in his hand.

"Not all the friends work for you." Ric knocked Elena out of the way as his hands locked on Dr. Shane's wrists. The pair struggled. Dr. Shane's cheeks reddened as he struggled against Ric's superior strength. "Not so easy to fight a ghost." Ric knocked the stake out of the other man's hand and knocked him down on the floor.

An explosion of white filled the room as everything went silent.

* * *

_March 13_

_Elena –_

_As I write this, you're sleeping peacefully in our bed – your hair fanning out against the pillow. Your hand is resting atop our child in the same position as where you'd just pressed my hand against your stomach to feel the baby kick for the first time. In these past few months, I've been happier than I thought I would ever be in my lifetime, and I've been around for quite a while._

_If you're reading this… Well, we both know what that means. This is one time I wish I'd been wrong. _

Elena struggled to breathe as the first tear hit the page, threatening to blur Damon's neat handwriting. She blotted the tear away and continued on.

_Elena, you need to know that I loved you more than any man could love a woman. I should know. I've traveled the world and met countless others, but you were the one who made me complete._

_You challenged me to be a better man. __And for the first time, I believed I could. I wanted to be one._

_It wasn't an easy task – loving me – I know that. Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets. He can sum my journey up much better than I could._

"And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

-Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

_We took the road less traveled, Elena. The bumpy road. The ones others avoid. But along that path, I found a home…and it was in you. It hasn't been easy, but it was worth it._

_I have no regrets except one – that I'm not there with you right now to hold you in my arms and tell you how much I love you. _

_Forever yours – _

_Damon_

Elena drew in a shaky breath and let the tears fall freely. She folded the letter in half and slid it back into the envelope.

"Hey." Strong arms wrapped around Elena and lips pressed against the back of her neck. "You weren't supposed to find that." Damon spun her around to face him and tenderly pushed a tendril of hair over her ear. "And you've been through enough today. You shouldn't have read it." He ran his thumb over the bruise along her chin.

"Damon." Elena's hands were still trembling from the wave of emotion contained in Damon's goodbye.

He shook his head and tilted her chin up to better reach his lips, quieting her with a kiss.

"Really?" A familiar voice called out from the doorway. "Haven't I had to watch enough of that over the past few months."

Damon glared back at Alaric. "No one said you had to watch." He pressed his lips back to Elena's hungrily. Last night, he'd thought he was telling her goodbye. Now, he had other needs.

But Alaric wasn't going away.

"Guys, we need to talk."

* * *

Alaric waited for Damon and Elena to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace. Saying it had been an eventful night was an understatement.

When Elena saw Damon's blood-spattered clothes, she'd realized how close he'd come to being correct with his assumption that he wouldn't be going home. For now, she was still struggling to comprehend the fact that through an odd twist of fate, killing Silas brought Alaric back to them. That was an occurrence that the sheriff's department was going to have to attempt to explain.

Tomorrow.

And, based on Dr. Fell's recommendation, that was also when Elena would be told of the lives they'd lost…the reason for the blood on Damon when he came home.

But for now, Alaric apparently had a message that couldn't wait. He was on his third tumbler of whisky now. He definitely missed a few things while watching them from the afterlife.

"If you have something to tell us, get on with it." Damon might be acting annoyed, but Elena knew he'd happily watch his best friend drink his entire liquor supply right now. "Otherwise….."

"Trust me. I know what you two are waiting to do." Alaric dropped into the chair facing them and rubbed his eyes. "Like I said, I've seen more than enough of that for one lifetime."

Elena blushed. She'd never considered the thought that Alaric might have been there when….

"While I was," Alaric cleared his throat, "dead, I had a chance to get to know a few witches. Bonnie's Grams being one of them. She took me to the original Bennett witch – the one who wrote the spell for Esther."

Damon laughed. Somehow he'd known a Bennett was behind all this.

"Witches can't create a spell without a way to undo it. It's one of the rules. But with the more important spells, they try really hard to make sure the loophole is almost impossible to create." He paused. "Almost."

"And why are you telling us this, Ric? Dr. Shane already explained it, I was the key to bringing Silas back. We know that." Elena fought to keep her eyes open. She was emotionally drained beyond caring about anything related to witches at this point.

"Because Silas wanted to make sure the loophole didn't happen." Alaric took a long breath. "In order to reverse the vampire spell, the blood of the Petrovas has to mix with the blood of the Originals and the Hunters since the three families created the vampire race."

"And that's why Bonnie said I was the key." Elena finished Alaric's statement.

"You combined the Petrovas and the Hunters. That was enough to usher Silas back to the world." Alaric nodded. "But Bonnie didn't fully understand what her ancestor meant. More than one spell was at work here."

"Of course." Damon nodded for the bottle at Alaric's feet. He took it in hand and took a long drink. He'd already had quite a night. He wasn't sure if he was ready for any other witchy pronouncements.

"Petrova, Original, and Hunter. The three bloodlines have crossed…or they will in about five more months." Alaric stared at Elena's stomach.

"That's what Silas meant."

"The witches didn't know about Elijah's child when they created the spell. They assumed their curse could never be broken – and then it was their very insistence that the Petrova line had to continue that will bring the curse to an end."

"When the baby's born…." Elena was too overwhelmed to finish the thought.

Alaric turned to look at Damon. "The baby's the cure. She'll bring death to all the supernatural creatures because she'll make them all mortal."

Damon leaned forward in his seat and grinned gleefully at Elena. "Did you say she?"

* * *

Author's note: Still an epilogue to come tomorrow. Reviews are always appreciated. I love to know what y'all think. So….is the Bennett witch telling the truth?


	15. Chapter 15

Warnings: Mature – character death, adult content, language, violence, Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline

* * *

Epilogue

_August 23_

Damon took a drink of the too-hot coffee and made a face. He'd been at the hospital for over 20 hours now, and he was pretty sure he was finishing off the dregs of the pot that had already tasted stale when they arrived. He shook his head and dumped the liquid into the water fountain before tossing the cup in the trash. He needed caffeine, but not that badly.

Soft laughter came from behind him. "Looks like I got here just in time." Alaric held out a tall white paper cup. "Here."

Damon curled his fingers around the cup with gratitude. Hospital coffee shouldn't really be called coffee. "Thanks."

"How is she?" Alaric waited as Damon yawned.

"Elena?" Damon rubbed the day's growth of stubble along his cheek. "Exhausted. It was a long night."

"What time did Meredith finally convince her to get the epidural?"

Damon narrowed his eyes and thought about it. After eight hours of labor, everything just sort of started to run together. "Pretty sure it was close to two."

"Ouch." Alaric winced.

"Tell me about it." Damon stretched one arm above his head and yawned again.

Alaric walked at Damon's side and paused as Damon stepped into a beam of sunlight pouring through the window. "How are you doing? Feel much different?"

Damon placed the coffee cup on a table in the hallway and held out his hands, looking down at the solitary ring on his finger. The narrow silver band on his left ring finger shone in the sunlight. "It's going to take a little getting used to."

Alaric nodded. "How'd Stefan take the news?"

Damon cocked his head to the side and grinned. "Better than I thought. I'm pretty sure he drove by the drug store to buy a box of condoms on the way home."

"No more Salvatore/Petrova babies?"

Damon ducked his head and laughed. "At least not for a while." Damon's phone buzzed in his pocket. "Looks like I can go back up now. Nursing is apparently harder than it looks. The nurse kicked me out about a half-hour ago. Want to go see her?" Without waiting for an answer, Damon pressed the button to call the elevator.

Alaric tossed his cup into the trash as the elevator doors slid open. "Jeremy said you finally convinced her to move. Was she drugged up at the time?"

Damon swallowed and leaned against the back wall of the elevator. "She needs some time…away from here. Every time she looks around, she sees them. I think some time with the sand and the sun will do her good. You and Jeremy are still welcome to come live in the guest house."

"Move with you to Hawaii. Tempting." Alaric backed up to allow other passengers space in the elevator. "But Jeremy wants to finish out his senior year here."

"Understandable." Damon nodded as the doors parted as they arrived on the fourth floor. He'd seen far too much of this waiting area over the past few weeks. Their little one had been more than a little impatient to arrive. "This way." He pointed to a cluster of doors to the right of the nurse's station. A pink wreath with a teddy bear hung on one of the closed doors. Damon pointed to the wreath and explained, "Meredith thought we needed a little extra celebration." He tapped softly twice on the door, shaking his head at Alaric's amusement at his excitement to enter the room.

"Come in." A nurse opened the door and motioned them inside. "Mom's asleep right now." She whispered and held a finger to her lips.

"No I'm not." A very groggy Elena answered.

"She was." The nurse corrected herself. "Just buzz if y'all need anything." She stepped through the doorway and closed it behind her.

"Ric." Elena smiled up through heavy-lidded eyes. "Damon said you were here almost all night."

"Till about midnight." He hesitantly walked to Elena's bedside. "I heard you had a long night."

Elena nodded slowly. "But it was worth it." The bundle in her arms moved and Elena shifted in the bed. Damon quickly arrived at her side and helped her reposition herself. "Do you want to hold your goddaughter?"

Alaric quickly looked to Damon for permission. The dark-haired former vampire's blue eyes locked on his friend's face. "Don't drop her."

Alaric took a step back. "Maybe not."

Elena shook her head. "Come on, Ric." She motioned for Alaric to come to her side. "I'd like you to meet Amelia."

"Isn't that kind of an old-fashioned name?" He raised an eyebrow as he reached out and took the baby in his arms.

"Watch her head." Damon appeared to be ready to jump over Elena's bed as he watched Alaric adjust his grip on the baby.

"Amelia was Damon's mother's name." Elena reached out and took hold of Damon's hand.

"It's a beautiful name." Alaric corrected himself, looking down at the blue-eyed bundle in his arms. He glanced at Elena. "She has your eyes."

"Like I said, someday she'll have all the guys wrapped around her finger."

* * *

Elena took a shaky breath and backed away from her brother. "You're sure you're going to be okay?"

Jeremy laughed and pointed to the car where Damon was placing the last suitcase in the trunk. "I think it's a little late for second thoughts." He smiled reassuringly at his sister. "We'll be fine. Ric's a much better cook than you are."

"I heard about the fire department." Damon glanced at his friend in amusement.

"Definitely not my fault, the wind got too high and the fire in the grill got out of control." Alaric bounced Amelia gently in his arms. The baby grasped hold of his fingertip and pulled it into her mouth.

"That's not what I heard." Liz Forbes reached out and took hold of the bundle in Alaric's arms. "Let me see her. She's gotten so big." She leaned her head down and brushed a kiss on the baby's downy black hair.

Elena stood back and watched as her baby was passed between her friends and family members. She hadn't been prepared for this impromptu goodbye party. She'd hoped that she and Damon would be able to slip away. But she knew that wouldn't really be fair.

"Don't worry about your little brother." Matt wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'll watch out for Jeremy too."

"Thanks." Elena felt her lip begin to tremble as she gave Matt a quick hug. "I know you will."

"And it's not really goodbye." Damon lifted Amelia from Liz's arms. He turned and faced Stefan. "We won't be gone forever." Stefan stood with his arm around Katherine's waist. Somehow regaining their humanity restored the balance in the brothers' relationship. Stefan and Katherine were happy, and if Damon guessed correctly from his experience with Elena, the slightly green tint to Katherine's skin meant he and Elena would have reason to visit by next summer.

"You take good care of them." Stefan looked back and forth between the baby in Damon's arms and Elena.

Holding Amelia in one arm, he wrapped his other around Elena's waist and pulled her to his side. "I always have...I always will."

The End.

* * *

Author's note: Thanks for coming on the journey with me. I've loved sharing my version of Damon and Elena's story with you once again.

As you may have guessed, this story was also my goodbye. Damon and Elena are leaving Mystic Falls. It's time for them to move on. The time has come for me as well.

I hope I can come back and visit. (I have two one-shots in the works.) But this will be my last multi-chapter story.

Thanks so much for all your support. Y'all have no idea how much it has meant to me.

Until next time -

D'Ann


End file.
